Storeys Field Centres performance hall is stunning, crafted in wood panelling, with a lovely studio nearby, giving onto a garden.Īs well as a hand drum, the instruments included a mandolin and harmonium that are no longer used for Bharatanatyam concerts. Sadir dance, thanks to its derogatory reputation, went underground, despised by more privileged practitioners, who later codified Bharatanatyam as a respectable form of classical South Asian dance. Missionaries disapproved of the sensual dancers, as did British governors and military officials. Oh My Lovely Lalana Raagam Professional Single WomenĪs professional single women without husbands, they were entitled to pass on their assets through the female line. Like Japanese geishas, they were skilled at entertaining rich and powerful men, and they were well versed in courtly etiquette. They were courtesans, who performed for the courts of rajahs and nawabs, and for officers of the British Raj. The dances involve improvisation, so the choreography is not fixed: nor is it as formalised as Bharatanatyam, which has subsumed the Sadir genre.
She learnt the five dances she showed us from elderly devadasi performers who kept the Sadir repertoire alive during years of repression. Sadir is a genre fraught with social and political complications and implications.īanned for 150 years, it is only now being reinstated by researchers and performers who value its tradition and the women who made it their profession. Oh My Lovely Lalana Raagam Professional Single Women.
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