Towards a British Natyam

Magdalen Gorringe is a dancer, arts manager, writer, and independent researcher. She grew up in India, where she trained in bharatanatyam, before going on to acquire a B.A. in Theology and Religious Studies from Cambridge University and a MPhil in Classical Indian Religions from Oxford University. She subsequently spent over twenty-five years working as a bharatanatyam dancer in Britain, employed variously as a performer, teacher, workshop leader, and producer. A recipient of a Vice-Chancellor's scholarship from the University of Roehampton, she gained her doctorate in 2021 with a thesis on classical Indian dance forms in Britain.

“The book’s insights will be invaluable to dancers struggling to establish their dance form’s legitimacy, so that they are not constantly apologising for their dance being different from the Euro-American contemporary dance, the default mode in the UK. Armed with these concepts and arguments they could make a more confident approach to venues, promoters and funders.” • Pulse

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Flourishing or Fragile? The Contradictory Context of Classical Indian Dance Forms in BritainChapter 1. Context: The BBC Young Dancer and the Professionalisation of South Asian Dance in Britain: A Snapshot of the Sector and Its Place within British DanceChapter 2. Professionalism :Of Work, Love and Money: Living to Dance – or Dancing to Live? What It Means to Be a ‘Professional’ Classical Indian Dance Artist in BritainChapter 3. Learning: Migration, Identity, and Making Professional DancersChapter 4. Livelihood, Learning, Embodiment: ‘Technical Habitus’, Classical Indian Dance Forms and the Limits of the ‘Versatile Dancer’Chapter 5. Legitimacy: Professionalising Classical Indian Dance in Britain and Entering the ‘National Cultural Canon’Conclusion: Part of the ‘British DNA’?Appendix I: List of Judges and Mentors for the BBC Young DancerAppendix II: Table of South Asian Dance Tuition in British HE InstitutionsAppendix III: Table of Members of the South Asian Dance AllianceAppendix IV: Project InterlocutorsBibliography