Thinking Minds, Virtual Bodies

Abstract

With the emergence of the pandemic, the world adapted virtually; dance education and performance were no exception. Particularly, Indian classical dance (ICD) education and practice garnered mixed reactions due to the deviations from the intimate personified practices which are inherent in the traditional ICD system. Therefore, certain changes in the system became mandatory. With reference to the ideal tenets of arts pedagogy as mentioned in the ancient performing arts treatise Natyashastra, this paper provides specific significant methodologies which can benefit the knowledge exchange process in ICD especially in the online environment. Derived from the training in the sciences, this paper is an attempt to inform the virtual ICD scenario regarding complementation of and improvements in the traditional ways of knowledge acquisition and dissemination. These ways will appreciably enrich the desired purposes of the “felt” and “embodied” which may have been lost with the shift to the virtual scenario.