The body as optical mechanism: Indian conceptualization of embodiment in performance

The aim of the paper is to look at the ways, in which the body has been conceptualized, trained and performed in modern Indian theatre. The body of an Indian actor is located in the multiple stream of practice working across traditions, disciplines and cultural boundaries. India has several bodily traditions that are systematically trained and practiced regionally. Simultaneously, modern theatre practice in India borrows western laboratory training methods from Stanislavski through Brecht, Grotowski, Barba and so on. Indian acting, therefore, is essentially an intercultural practice negotiating between multiple traditions and cultures of the bodily practices. Bodily traditions and practices travel all sides and pathways in various temporalities integrating elements from distinctively different theatre cultures while keeping the performance practice alive and dynamic. However, the element of this intercultural interaction of the actor’s body ‘in-between’ cultures has hardly been discussed in the current intercultural debate