Nirupama Rajendra unveils her new dance project
The Hindu
Nirupama Rajendra’s Desi Marga Adavu Project is designed as an easy-to-use guide for dance teachers and students alike
Sculptures and texts have captivated dancers and art historians alike, with a need to understand the moving body through the lens of the past. One of the most popular perspectives that scholars have utilised is the understanding of Indian art as Marga or Desi. The distinction between Marga and Desi can be described, primitively, as the distinction between canonical and regional, but in reality it is far more nuanced. The Natyashastra mentions 108 postures which are widely regarded as the canonical, Marga tradition. The Desi tradition, on the other hand, appears to be less codified, or more accurately, codified at a later historical date. This distinction is not delineated in the Indian arts before the 13th century text, the Sangita Ratnakara, which mentions 36 ‘desi karanas’. While there are several more treatises that explore the differences and codification of Marga and Desi, it is largely understood that the classical forms we practise today, including the notions of bani or style, are considered variations of the Desi forms. In this way, the tradition of dance, specifically after the 1930s, prioritised the distinction between the Sanskritic tradition and the regional traditions as its main trope — a practice that continues till today.More Related News