Editorial

Abstract

The present issue of the Indian Theatre Journal (ITJ) is an attempt to showcase the current research in the field of Indian performing arts to bring together some glimpses of traditional performance scholarship and the ways in which that interacts with contemporary demands. There are two articles on Kerala Kalamandalam, the internationally acclaimed Kerala’s traditional centre for performing arts. The articles feature the origin and development of the institution, the ways in which the centre became the nucleus of traditional performing arts in the region including recent experiments in the traditional performing arts scene in Kerala. Moreover, the article about the Purulia Chhau attempts to raise the argument that the Indigenous performances have not opened to accommodate the ‘woman’s space’ within its practice. The article on performative experience in Kathakali’ asks some valuable questions about the creative nature of the art of acting: what is the nature of the psychophysical process involved in a performance? At what degree and level this complex process has been understood and theorized? Above all, the exceptional interview with Neena Prasad, a prolific young dancer who received the presidential award for the overall contribution to Indian classical dance, is another highlight of the issue.