RETHINKING DANCE STUDIES THROUGH THE NĀṬYAŚĀSTRA: A HERMENEUTIC ANALYSIS

Divya Hoskere; Deepti Navaratna

doi:10.29121/shodhgyan.v4.i1.2026.118

Authors

Divya Hoskere PhD Scholar, Music, Brain and Creativity Initiative, School of Humanities, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India
Dr. Deepti Navaratna TV Raman Pai Chair Professor and Head of Music, Brain and Creativity Initiative, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhgyan.v4.i1.2026.118

Keywords:

Dance Studies, Natyashastra, Hermeneutics, Dance Pedagogy, Bharatanāṭyam

Abstract [English]

Contemporary dance scholarship has increasingly turned toward decolonial perspectives, yet much of this work continues to operate within conceptual frameworks that separate theory from practice and aesthetics from embodied experience. This paper addresses this limitation by revisiting the Nāṭyaśāstra as an Indic framework for understanding methods in dance education. Adopting a hermeneutic approach informed by Sanskrit aesthetic theory and a phenomenological sensitivity to embodied experience, the study examines key concepts related to dance studies, including the idea of the “classical,” pedagogical methods in theory and technique, and the relationship between emotion and aesthetic experience. The analysis demonstrates that the Nāṭyaśāstra does not treat these as discrete domains but integrates them within a unified system in which practice, theory, and pedagogy are inseparable. By situating the text as a practice-oriented śāstra that both codifies and emerges from performance traditions, the paper highlights its continued relevance for contemporary dance education. In doing so, it challenges dominant pedagogical binaries and proposes an alternative framework grounded in inquiry, experience, and aesthetic coherence, arguing that revisiting such Indic approaches offers a productive means of rethinking the conceptual and pedagogical foundations of dance studies.

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