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On the Value of Mistranslations and Contaminations: The Category of “Contemporary Choreography” in Asian Dance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2013

Ananya Chatterjea
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Abstract

This article works through ideas of bad/mis-translation in order to explore some of the cultural politics that undergird the construction of the global stage with specific reference to the idea of contemporary choreography in Asian dance. Bound by contesting flows toward heterogeneity and homogeneity, the global stage begs questions about the categories that pose as neutral signifiers—categories that are deployed in organizing “global” programming, and that ultimately over-determine our reception of difference. The article works through examples of artists working with Asian dance, touring their work on the global circuit, and often engaging in some kinds of mis-alignments or bad translations, thus allowing space for complicated questions of difference to emerge.

Keywords

Asian dancecontaminationcontemporarydifferencediversityfrictionglobal stageglobalizationJérome BellocationmistranslationmodernityNrityagramOdissiPichet Kkunchunseamstraditiontranslationtransnationaluniversalviolencesworld dance
Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 7 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 2013

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References

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