Chapter 9: Music and Dance

This chapter talked about a lot of things that were familiar to me from taking Cultural Anthropology. For instance, in native dances, only men are included, so female parts are played by men dressed up as women. These dances are often related to myths and native Indian stories. I found it interesting that these dancing groups feel threatened by bigger Hindi films that do include actual women and think that this could mean that they come to be ignored.
When I think of music and dance, I primarily think about entertainment and recreation. However, this is not necessarily the case for Indians. Music and dance holds a very important and serious part in their culture and is not only for entertainment. They can be used (as in the West) for religious purposes, for group cohesiveness, for teaching, and, surprisingly, even for protest. The text mentions how people who are subordinated often utilize music and dance to express that dissatisfaction.
One problem with Indian music and dance becoming more modern and popular is sexuality. One reason for this is that much of the dance was seen from ladies who worked in the temples and were also prostitutes. I understand how this can be questionable in society, but then the author goes on to talk about how men and women holding hand is also unacceptable. I think it is strange that there are these extremes…I mean prostitutes dancing or holding hands?...
Dancing and music were also related because they can be used in nation building. After India gained its independence from Britain, these medias were used to build Indian cohesiveness and unity. How cool it is that this is not just done by politicians and national leaders through speeches and executive decisions, but also by the average person through their song and dance!
The text also speaks of different musical elements and instruments that were very foreign to me. I had never thought about it before reading this, but Indians have different music theory from the west. It makes sense that they would since they had also had music for millennia, but I guess I just assumed that everyone used the same system of music and theory to understand it. Clearly, this would not be the case, so this was an “ah-hah!” moment for me! That seems to be happening a lot through this text, and that is certainly a good thing!