Latest Publications

Rethinking dance studies through the Nāṭyaśāstra: A hermeneutic analysis

Submitted by rajeshkotappa on Wed, 09/02/2026 - 15:28

Contemporary dance scholarship has increasingly turned toward decolonial perspectives, yet much of this work continues to operate within conceptual frameworks that separate theory from practice and aesthetics from embodied experience. This paper addresses this limitation by revisiting the Nāṭyaśāstra as an Indic framework for understanding methods in dance education.

Learning the 108 Karaṇas: Toward embodied practice and pedagogical renewal in Bharatanāṭyam

Submitted by rajeshkotappa on Wed, 09/02/2026 - 15:25

Learning the 108 karaṇas, codified dance units from the ancient text Nāṭyaśāstra, offers new possibilities for embodied training, creative exploration, and pedagogical renewal in Bharatanatyam. As a Bharatanatyam dancer, I engage these possibilities through a practice-as-research (PaR) lens. Structured training in karaṇas revealed significant pedagogical potential: enhancing kinaesthetic alignment, enabling both expressive and abstract choreography, and fostering aesthetic integrity.