Bollywood Sexuality

During spring break, I had the opportunity to see Taj Express: A Bollywood Musical. The show took you on a journey through Indian and Bollywood culture with song and dance as your tour guide. However, the majority of the show I found myself mesmerized by the expressed sexuality of the female dancers and performers on stage. Captivated by their flowing skirts in a rainbow of colors, swift and intentional hip movements, and their seductive glances at the audience and their male partners, I reflected on this display of femininity, seduction, and sexuality throughout the performance. Bollywood dance is the hybrid baby of traditional Hindu dance and Western, Hollywood culture. While there are some movements that have strong roots in Indian culture, hip-hop and other aspects of Western entertainment still provide a solid foundation in the Bollywood dance community. Although Hollywood is associated with the selling of sex, in Bollywood dance and performance, the sex and sensual aspect of movement stems from traditional Hindu dance. In Hindu dance, expression comes from the hips, torso, hands, and, most importantly, the eyes. The sensuality that comes from the movement of the hips and torso is obvious, as their seductive and sharp, varying speeds their hips move across the floor. Their hands complement their hips by framing their lower body or moving slowly with their hips. Their eyes, however, move ever so slightly and their sheepish smile tells the story of the sensuality and love that dictates all Bollywood works. The emotion and seduction originates in the eyes. This is the core of traditional Hindu dance. With the eyes, the body follows to tell a story of gods and goddesses who fall in love or have relations with each other to the story of a warrior who fights viciously and falls fiercely in love. However, with the majority of  this ancient Hindu dance being performed in massive palaces of powerful monarchs, much of the dances have some degree of sexual mystery or intrigue. The history of Eastern acceptance of display of sexuality, such as Hindu traditional dance and the Karma Sutra, translated to imperialism as the white man found himself entranced by the mystery (sexual) of the orient. The East was new and different from the West, with added seduction from traditional practices that drew Europeans to India. The exotic and unfamiliar land was a synonym for exotic and unfamiliar sexual experiences. Today, Bollywood has taken the exotic and sensual tradition embedded deep into the Hindu and Indian culture and integrated it with Western popular culture. By taking the unfamiliar, sensual eyes of the female Hindu and Bollywood dancer and the familiarity of Hollywood, Bollywood has managed to create a form of entertainment that is different and familiar, old and new, and still a host for European sexual adventure and seduction.