How dance dismantles dilemmas of binarism

Dance is an extremely valuable medium for people to challenge the gender binary and experiment with their expression, writes Tanisha Saxena

Manish Interest aka Madhuraa Prakash

Patruni Chidananda Sastry

Patruni Chidananda Sastry’s recently released dance video on YouTube triggered a quiet discourse on LGBTQ representation in classical dance. ‘Dancing dysphoria’ follows the struggles, both mental, as well as physical that a non-binary person has to go through while navigating the idea of gender. Sastry uses the grace and aesthetics of Bharatanatyam to convey the conflict.

For Hyderabad-based Sastry, dance speaks louder than words. When in class V, Sastry watched Chitra Visweswaran, the renowned Bharatanatyam dancer, perform on stage in Kharagpur centred around the Hollywood film Godzilla. “My takeaway from this was that if the movie Godzilla can be depicted through dance, why can’t we do the same for other subjects that people find difficult to talk about,” says the artiste.

Classical dance and activism have always gone hand in hand. In the past few years, we have witnessed classical dance dismantling the dilemmas of gender binary like never before. “Dance is genderless. An artiste’s body is like water, you pour it into any vessel and it takes the shape,” adds Sastry. In the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam, abhinaya is the core element of the performance. Abhinaya allows an artiste to flow across social boundaries. In a nutshell, it is a queer space and tool. From Sadir attam to Bharatanatyam — there were many iterations. Notably, colonial and post-colonial discourses of sexual morality shaped the presence of LGBT community in classical dance forms. For instance, Section 377 imposed during colonialism sparked debates and discussions around homosexuality, something that Indians had not previously considered.

The opportunity to learn classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam or Kuchipudi — opens up a double space of agency for them: abhinaya allows them to flow across gender boundaries more easily and explore forbidden things such as marrying; at the same time the practice of a high level, “traditional,” “devotional” dance style such as Bharatanatyam can contribute to a real, concrete change in their social position and therefore in their life.

“Nobody used to give us any respect. We were treated as lesser human beings. I have faced it in buses nobody used to even sit beside us... After being honoured with the Padma Shri, the KSRTC in Kalyana Karnataka region printed my name on all tickets. Now everyone travelling by bus will have a transperson’s name on the ticket. This is strong communication of change,” says transgender folk dancer Matha B Manjamma Jogathi who was honoured with a Padma Shri award for her contribution to arts in November 2021. Recognition is crucial as it would pave the way for more equality. Her win comes as a huge milestone in the history of the LGBTQ struggle. “We are once again reminded of trailblazers and path-breakers who pioneered the LGBTQ+ representation in classical/folk dance. I feel motivated having icons like Jogathi Amma and Narthaki Amma from the community,” says Manish Interest aka Madhuraa Prakash, a brown queer artiste. She adds, “Dance is an extremely valuable medium for people to challenge the gender binary and experiment with their expression. In Bharatanatyam, there are “masculine” and “feminine” movements, but the dancer themselves, regardless of their gender, can use these movements to evoke various characters or emotions. That’s how I learned to embrace my own masculinity and move beyond the limitations of the gender binary.”

The possibility to use Bharatanatyam as a means to share reflections on normative and non-normative social constructions has then become popular. There is an imperative for change now that continues to increase. “We need to normalise transgender women working, teaching, and dancing; we need to normalise them pursuing their goals. We must focus on making the community independent,” reiterates Narthaki Amma, a transgender Bharatanatyam artiste. Three years ago, Narthaki Amma received the Padma Shri, making her the first transgender to be awarded the fourth highest civilian award in the country.