Interplay between institutional policies and dance practitioners: the case of a seminar aiming at regulating choreographies in the “Indian classical dance” Odissi

International audienceBy instituting the “classical” genre in the 1950ies, the Indian government elevated selected practices of dance and music to the status of representatives of a particularly precious form of cultural heritage of the nation. Yet, definitions by the government itself of what is to be considered “classical” are fluctuating, as is apparent through the detailed analysis of a seminar on choreography in Odissi dance organised in 2003 by a major governmental institution in the Indian State of Odisha (named Orissa until 2011), considered to be the “homeland” of this “classical” form. In this event, the organisers wished to question practitioner’s understandings of what, in the choreographic creations of Odissi, was to be called “tradition”. Thereby, they aimed at instigating the creation of dance productions that could be called “classical”, yet matched the requirements of a quick changing cultural market in the context of globalization. The new interpretations of the classical canons were met by contrasted reactions on the side of practitioners: some embraced the governmental propositions, others resisted them. And though the context of the seminar did not allow open expressions of contestation, controversies that keep braking out on the occasion of Odissi performances in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, reveal the impact of conflicting views on what may be the “proper tradition” of the dance on the dancer’s lives. The paper will analyse the relation between the modalities of governmental intervention and the social dynamics in the dance community. It will also clarify which social groups, amongst the different sections of society involved into Odissi dance production, were favoured by the action of the cultural institution