As an independent Fulbright scholar in Dance, I spent a year traveling to more than 60 Bharatanatyam (south Indian classical dance) schools around Chennai, Bangalore, and Delhi. I interviewed more than 200 teachers and students about their practice of Bharatanatyam. That unprecedented study of how the dance form is being expressed differently in different cities, bodies, and generations contributed to a more nuanced understanding of Bharatanatyam traditions and their evolution. My Fulbright research also laid a foundation for my own creative adaptation of Bharatanatyam today as a professional dancer and choreographer .
The results from my Fulbright research were presented at the 41st Annual Congress on Research in Dance and published in the international Pulse Dance magazine focused on south Asian dance forms. For more details, visit www.keshaviah.com.
Aparna Keshaviah – Fulbright to India 2006