Corporatization of dance: Changing landscape in choreography and patronage since economic liberalization in Bengaluru

Abstract

This chapter articulates the process of acculturation that artists undergo and the changes that have occurred in the aesthetics of the art form of Bharatanatyam in its practice, performance and presentation due to changing economic situations in the city of Bengaluru since the 1990s. The research elaborates on the current composition of dance production in the city while making historical references to similar trends in the past. It attempts a comprehensive study of a new mode of art production, what is popularly known as ‘corporate show/event.’ It explores how the corporatization of art has resulted in the growth of a ‘dance industry’ by analyzing the phenomenon of a corporate performance in detail. Drawing from Roland Robertson’s definition of globalization as “the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole,” this research attempts to understand the developments in the area of art production that occur globally by comprehending the phenomenon at a local level.