Social Movement and Modern Dance (Bengal)

The English word “Bengal” denotes the dominant historical civilization of northeastern India, although administrative boundaries imposed initially by the British culminated in its current partition between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. At the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, the chief forms of dance performance prevalent in Bengal were the bai nach, khemta, raibeshe, and bratachari dances, and the jatras. These dances either had the stigma of disrepute attached to them or were considered too unsophisticated for the tastes of urban middle-class Bengalis. Only women from dubious backgrounds, courtesans, and those who came from the fringes of urban centers danced in public.

It was in this atmosphere that Nobel Literature Laureate Rabindranath Tagore not only introduced dance into the curriculum of his Shantiniketan ashram for both male and female students but also had them performing his poetry and songs on stage. The ashram became the Visva Bharati University in 1918. Even though the emergence of the Naba Nari (New Woman) literature in Bengal since the mid19th century had led to women's higher visibility in the public domain, shifting the morally depraved dancing woman from disgrace to respect meant that the Bengali bhadramahila (respectable woman) acquired an altogether new identity.

Tagore's literature and art, as well as his contribution to Bengali modern dance and drama (both performance and pedagogy), were inspired by and responded to the social upheavals of the nationalist movement in India. His portrayal of women in his short stories built on the Naba Nari tradition. His dance-drama Chitrangada (1936) underscored the arrival of the female hero as active agent on the Bengali stage, and Chandalika (The Untouchable Girl, 1938) addressed pertinent social issues such as the Hindu caste system and a woman's rebellion against social marginalization.