| Abstract [eng] |
Neoclassical Kathak dance is a syncretic and diverse performative tradition practiced by different performing communities in North India. The aim of the doctoral dissertation is to investigate this dance and the communities that practice it, revealing the changes in the performative tradition in the context of contemporary (Indian) culture. For that purpose, theoretical approaches of post-colonial discourse are used. They are supplemented by theoretical aspects of the pre-colonial context and the modern world that are relevant to the study. The thesis is based on empirical material collected during a two-stage ethnographic field study in communities practicing the Kathak style in the north-central region of India and the author's personal experience. The inevitable physicality of dance, the author's dance practice and the methods of participant observation, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, conversations and memories used in the research lead to a research method based on practical knowledge and actualise the dual position of the author/researcher and practitioner. The historiographical descriptive method is also used in the dissertation to reveal various cultural contexts and their change in the course of history. The following eras that influenced and shaped the modern form of the Kathak tradition are discussed in the course of the dissertation: 1) the period of the prosperity of Muslim empires, 2) the colonial period, 3) the post-colonial period and 4) the current ethnographic reality. The study shows Kathak dance as a performative practice that constantly transforms and adapts to changing contexts, reveals the ways of adaptation and interpretation of tradition and self-expression of different communities of performers who practice this dance. |
