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Flexibility and Its Bodily Limits: Transnational South Asian Dancers in an Age of Neoliberalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2014

Anusha Kedhar
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Abstract

This article examines the conflicting and paradoxical ways in which race and citizenship intersect in late capitalism, and how dancers negotiate these contradictions through their bodily labor. Focusing on South Asian dancers in the UK, I suggest that transnational South Asian dancers have increasingly had to emphasize flexibility and mobility in their bodies and dance practices in order to gain access to mainstream funding, venues, audiences, resources, and touring circuits which have traditionally marginalized non-white dance practices. I argue that “flexible citizenship” is not just a political strategy to negotiate capital; it is also a bodily tactic and an embodied response to the racialization of labor in neoliberal economies. However, there are limits to how far the flexibility of flexible citizenship can stretch. Although the creativity of South Asian dancers and the strength of their bodily practices has helped them to negotiate racial inequalities in Britain, immigration laws, arts funding policies, and employment regulations have immobilized dancers. Addressing the various complexities and contradictions in which transnational bodies are embroiled, this essay is both a tribute to the creative, flexible practices of South Asian dancers as well as an acknowledgment of the limits of flexible citizenship and a critique of neoliberalism's toll on the racialized dancing body.

Keywords

Bharata NatyamcitizenshipflexibilityIndianeoliberalismracetransnationalismUK
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 23 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2014 

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