The Sonpur cattle fair in rural Bihar comes alive every evening when more than fifty girls take to the stage and dance for an all-male audience. A barbed wire fence separates the performers from the spectators. Originally part of the nautanki, a popular folk theatre genre of north India, the dance of the female performer today has become a replay of Bombay films and music videos that span rural and metropolitan landscapes. It is a performance charged with sexual energy. The girls dance, make eye contact, beckon, gesticulate and even abuse a highly responsive all-male audience. What meanings related to contemporary construction and practice of gender, sexuality, labour and popular culture can we read in the dance of the female performer?
Saba Dewan (India) | Sonpur, Bihar, India | 2008 | 84 min | Hindi spoken, English subtitles
