India, Dance and Religion: Trajectories of Discourse Between Academic Knowledge and Racist Theories 1936-38

Presenter:

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Abstract

The Menaka Indian Ballett toured Germany and Europe from 1936-1938 giving up to 300 concerts in Germany alone. The representations of Classical Hindustani Music and Dance were enthusiastically applauded by the German public and commented in countless reviews in daily newspapers. From today’s perspective, an affirmative reading of these texts as direct representations of performative events is unacceptable. In any case, however, they provide information about the manifold popular-scientific discourses on topics about India, whereby racial-theoretical references are taken for granted, as are discussions about racist aspects in art (“völkische Kunst”). The descriptions of Menaka’s Indian ballet undoubtedly served primarily as cultural self-assurance for the Germans under the auspices of National Socialism. In this contribution, those aspects will be enhanced that fit into the context of India as a projection surface for the quest for racial and spiritual origin on the one hand, and the transformation potential of ecstatic experience in art on the other. Subsequently, a contextualization will be undertaken into the religious renewal movements of this period with their political and ideological implications.