The BBC Young Dancer and the decolonising imagination

ABSTRACT

The process of decolonisation requires a radical re-imagination of how we construct our identities – one that steps away from fictions of independence and essentialism to acknowledge the complex webs of dialogue and interdependence. It requires a self-conscious abandonment of identities that privilege nostalgia for an idealised past, whether this is perceived as lost through geographical dislocation or through the changes of history. This is a nostalgia that tends to underplay cultural interweaving in favour of cultural essentialism. This article discusses the televised competition, the BBC Young Dancer, which offers a model, albeit imperfect, for navigating between essentialism and assimilationism, thereby contributing to a decolonised imagination of our future. It includes a South Asian dance category that is situated as equally representative of ‘British’ dance. In this way it helps us to imagine a decolonised future, which acknowledges the past to allow us to shape new identities.

KEYWORDS:

• BBC Young Dancer
• bharatanatyam
• kathak
• South Asian dance
• British identities

Acknowledgements

I am in receipt of a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship from the University of Roehampton, gratefully acknowledged, to conduct a doctoral research study on ‘The Professionalization of South Asian dance forms in Britain.’ This article also owes a debt of thanks to the late Andrée Grau, Professor of the Anthropology of Dance at the University of Roehampton, whose idea it was in the first place. I thank Professor Ann R. David, Dr Hugo Gorringe and Professor Tim Gorringe for their very helpful comments. Finally I would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of all members from the South Asian dance sector who have given their time to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Magdalen Gorringe is a doctoral research student at the University of Roehampton, researching ‘The Professionalisation of Classical Indian Dance Forms in Britain’ on a Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship. She grew up in India where she started learning bharatanatyam and is interested in creating routes into the profession for younger classical Indian dancers, as well as in using dance in activism. She is co-founder of The Natya Project, which seeks to provide professional progression routes for young classical Indian dancers in the U.K.

ORCID

Magdalen Gorringe http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4206-7700

Notes

1 A complex term abhinaya is a means of conveying and exploring narrative and emotion through the codified use of posture, gesture and facial expression.

2 Shikara and kapitha are two of the 28 ‘single hand gestures’ used within classical Indian dance forms, as codified in Sanskrit texts such as the Natyasastra and the Abhinayadarpana.

3 [3] Anjaneya, chor. Prakash Yadagudde. Performed by Akshay Prakash, BBC Young Dancer South Asian Category Final, The Lowry Theatre, Manchester, January 23, 2017. Recordings of this piece and all the others from this final are available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gbzxt/clips.

4 Figures provided by the BBC to Anita Srivastava, sent to me via personal communication, May 3, 2017

5 I assume. The BBC was unable to provide me a figure, but merely from the circumstantial evidence of talking to friends and colleagues, I believe this to be a safe assumption.

6 The subject of ‘competition dance’ is contentious, raising questions about the balance between accessibility, display and artistry. For discussion on this topic see Marion (2008), Morris (2008) and Weisbrod (2014).

7 Amelia Hill, ‘Dyke: BBC is hideously white’, The Observer, January 7, 2001. Accessed September 6, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jan/07/uknews.theobserver1.

8 In this article, the dance forms discussed, when considered collectively, are variously referred to as ‘Classical Indian dance’ and ‘South Asian dance’. The question as to which label is politically and aesthetically most apt has been debated by the sector for over twenty years, without conclusion. It has been the subject of articles and of a conference organized by Akademi (Pinto 2004; McFee 2005). This article follows the sector lead in using both terms.

9 Bruce Marriott, ‘Young Dancer Award 2015 – Some Thoughts’, Dance Tabs, May 18, 2015. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://dancetabs.com/2015/05/bbc-young-dancer-award-2015-some-thoughts/.

10 The winner of the 2016 Young Musician, for example, Sheku Kanneh Mason, topped the classical charts with his first CD and was the first artist to be invited to appear at the BAFTA awards ceremonies for 2 years running.

11 It is interesting (and somewhat ironic in the context of this article) that Kaushik and eight other members of the South Asian dance sector have been awarded Orders of the British Empire for their services to dance. Kaushik was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire). Of the other informants in this article, Nina Rajarani was also awarded an MBE, and Piali Ray an OBE (Officer of the British Empire).

12 Thamarai ‘Tamil Dancer competes in BBC’s Young Dancer 2017’. Thamarai. January 24, 2017. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://www.thamarai.com/dance/tamil-dancer-competes-bbcs-young-dancer-2017.

13 Kenneth Tharp ‘What a difference a year makes’ March 30, 2016, The Place. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://www.theplace.org.uk/blog/kenneth-tharps-blog/what-difference-year-makes.

14 Nisha Somasundaram and Urbi Basu, ‘Editorial: What Does BBC Young Dancer 2015 Mean for South Asian Dance?’, Finding Lila, South Asian Arts UK, June 5, 2015. Accessed March 17, 2017. http://www.findinglila.com/articles/editorial-bbc-young-dancer-south-asian-dance. This site has been closed since I last accessed it. However other articles from the same authors can be found at https://globalrasika.com

15 Hanna Weibye, ‘BBC Young Dancer, BBC 4’, the arts desk, April 18, 2015. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/bbc-young-dancer-2015-bbc-four.

16 Tharp, ‘What a difference’

17 The South Asian category final judges for 2015 were Mira Balchandran Gokul and kathak dancer Pratap Pawar; and for 2017 they were bharatanatyam dancer Chitra Sundaram and kathak dancer Kajal Sharma.

18 Anita Srivastava, personal communication, May 3, 2017

19 Marriott, ‘Young Dancer’

20 Ismene Brown, ‘Why dance needs a Simon Cowell’, The Spectator, May 15, 2015. Accessed September 6, 2018. https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/05/why-dance-needs-a-simon-cowell/#.

21 Somasundaram and Basu, ‘What Does BBC’

22 Slavoj Žižek, ‘Liberal Multiculturalism masks an old barbarism with a human face’, The Guardian, October 3, 2010. Accessed September 6, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/oct/03/immigration-policy-roma-rightwing-europe.

23 In Akbar’s Palace, chor. Sujata Banerjee Performed by Jaina Modasia, BBC Young Dancer South Asian Category Final, The Lowry Theatre, Manchester, January 23, 2017.

24 Seven Heaven, choreography by Sujata Banerjee. Performed by Jaina Modasia and Peter Camilleri, BBC Young Dancer South Asian Category Final, the Lowry Theatre, Manchester, January 23, 2017.

25 Brown, ‘Why dance needs’

26 Graham Watts, ‘BBC Young Dancer Award 2017’, Dance Tabs, April 23, 2017. Accessed September 6, 2018. http://dancetabs.com/2017/04/bbc-young-dancer-award-2017/.

27 Something Now, Something Then, Performed by Seeta Patel, the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton

28 Watts, ‘BBC Young Dancer’

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid.