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The Dancing Word: An Embodied Approach to the Preparation of Performers and the Composition of Performances (review)

The Dancing Word: An Embodied Approach to the Preparation of Performers and the Composition of... Book Reviews 577 drama in the Natyasastra: the episode in which Indra beats back the demons with his banner staff. This archaic myth has, Toffin postulates, until recently, been reactivated in relation to Nepali royal power. He acknowledges that with the fall of the monarch in 2008 changes may take place. The author conceives of the whole city as the theatrical space/stage and notes how the ritual focuses on and culminates in front of the main palace of the Malla kings (twelfth to eighteenth century), whose very names often were variations on the name of Indra. Their rites were later perpetuated by the later dynasties that succeeded the Malla. The carts on which the Buddhist Kumari (living goddess) and repre- sentatives of other divine powers tour the city, Toffin compares to jatra, pro- cessional performances of Bengal. He sees a religiopolitical ideology embod- ied in the processional display. Throughout the book, the author points out correlations between Nepali practices that could be seen up to the twenty- first century and old Indian models. The patterns, not the particulars, are, he argues, the same. For scholars interested in theatre per se the most useful chapter is the sixth, which gives http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asian Theatre Journal University of Hawai'I Press

The Dancing Word: An Embodied Approach to the Preparation of Performers and the Composition of Performances (review)

Zainal Abdul Latiff,,
Asian Theatre Journal , Volume 29 (2) – Feb 14, 2013
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Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1527-2109

Abstract

Book Reviews 577 drama in the Natyasastra: the episode in which Indra beats back the demons with his banner staff. This archaic myth has, Toffin postulates, until recently, been reactivated in relation to Nepali royal power. He acknowledges that with the fall of the monarch in 2008 changes may take place. The author conceives of the whole city as the theatrical space/stage and notes how the ritual focuses on and culminates in front of the main palace of the Malla kings (twelfth to eighteenth century), whose very names often were variations on the name of Indra. Their rites were later perpetuated by the later dynasties that succeeded the Malla. The carts on which the Buddhist Kumari (living goddess) and repre- sentatives of other divine powers tour the city, Toffin compares to jatra, pro- cessional performances of Bengal. He sees a religiopolitical ideology embod- ied in the processional display. Throughout the book, the author points out correlations between Nepali practices that could be seen up to the twenty- first century and old Indian models. The patterns, not the particulars, are, he argues, the same. For scholars interested in theatre per se the most useful chapter is the sixth, which gives

Journal

Asian Theatre Journal – University of Hawai'I Press

Published: Feb 14, 2013

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