Female Indian Classical Dance Practitioners in Malaysia: Labour and Visibility

Abstract

There is no Indian dance conversation in Malaysia, formal or informal, that exists without referencing male dancers. The first few names that are usually uttered by people in any dance dialogues are the names of male dancers. Despite the numerical predominance of women, it is a rare phenomenon to identify a female iconic or “star” performer in Malaysia. My contention is that, although female dancers may not always be visible as onstage performers, they claim power and authority through their backstage and offstage labour. Through the intersection of gender and ethnicity, I intend to visibilise Malaysian-Indian women’s artistic voices and their labour through the ethnographies of dancing women. I demonstrate how gender is constantly reworking and reshaping itself by incorporating the artistic experiences and subjectivities of female dance practitioners. A multifaceted investigation of the division of labour, power, and visibility within the Malaysian Indian dance circle shows that women enact power by performing a wide range of tasks—as cooks and food servers in the cafeterias of dance institutions, domestic householders involved in taking care of family, dance teachers, dance rehearsal assistants, costume designers, emcees, stage managers, and organisers or coordinators of dance events. This chapter will focus on female dance practitioners from various institutions as well as selected independent dance practitioners.