Routes beyond Roots: Indian Performing Arts and Virtual Culture(s)
Over the last number of years, Indian classical dance traditions have seen major shifts in terms of practice, pedagogy, and performance, both ‘at home’ in India and in diaspora contexts. These changes have been intensified most recently by two primary and co-related phenomena; the global adoption of specific algorithmic social media and streaming platforms, and lockdown restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. What happens to the embodied physical presence on virtual platforms? How has the format of the art form been modified to fit in digital spaces? What do these transformations mean for the future of the dance forms? How are socio-political issues embedded and addressed in such spaces?