Delicate Faces, Virtuosic Bodies

Abstract

In this article Krittika Mondal studies the performance tradition of Gotipua, a dance from the Puri district in the eastern coast of Odisha, India, to analyse how it engages the child figure to showcase itself on the contemporary stage.

Gotipua is a dance performed by multiple young male bodies, dressed as women. It is widely considered that Gotipua was popular in 17th century Odisha, under the patronage of the temples of the Puri district. It was taught by the gurus of maharis (female dancers of the temple; also known as devadasis in other places) to young, pre-pubescent boys who were donated to the temples. Gotipua was freely performed in public spaces during ritual festivities while mahari remained a dance exclusively for the deity, performed only inside the sanctum sanctorum. It is believed to have been a replacement for mahari dance in the years that it was banned from being performed. In its present form, Gotipua is a contemporary dance performance intercepted heavily with acrobatics, performed exclusively by young bodies.

Robin Bernstein (2006) uses Joseph Roach’s (1996) seminal theorisation of ‘surrogation’ to make tangible the idea of “imagined” childhood as opposed to “real” childhood. In Gotipua, the surrogation of childhood is rooted in an excess - that of virtuosity - displayed by the cross-dressing, and the physicality in its contemporary core elements of bandha-nrutya (acrobatic movements that need tremendous muscle-suppleness) and tableau formations (choreographed body-constructions of the temple structures and sculptures). With the delinking of Gotipua from temple spaces in the contemporary times, and its placement in the global dance network, this article seeks to investigate the “imagined childhood” showcased by Gotipua through its form and choreography.

Notes

1 A jatra literally means ‘procession’. These occur at different times of the year when Jagannath and his siblings are brought out of the temple, in order to celebrate festivities with the public. Jatras last for a varying number of days and different jatras have their respective rites wherein the performance of Gotipua forms an important part of the celebrations.

2 In Wives of the God-King (1989), Frédérique Apffel-Marglin discusses the anti-devdasi movement that started towards the end of the nineteenth century and resulted in the passing of the Devadasi Protection Act, Bombay 1934 and the Madras Prevention of Dedication of Devadasi Act in 1947. These were the first in a series of prohibitions, repeatedly enforced with the aim of abolishing devadasi practice across the country.

3 As mentioned previously, mahari and Gotipua existed together for many centuries but eventually, because of perceived connections with prostitution, maharis came to be seen as promiscuous. On the other hand, because Gotipua engaged boys who could assimilate back into society, there was less stigma attached to the practice, barring the association of effeminacy with some boys (Patnaik 2015.) The practice of donating boys to temples and performing under their auspices did not come into legal purview.