The path of the body. ways of meaning in Bharata Natyam

Abstract

This work deals with the question of the methodological approach to the study of dancing art. Semiotics considers the body not only as an instance of enunciation of a language, but as language itself. The object of the analysis will be the Indian dance Bharata Natyam, whose features depend on a rhythmic competence and on the idea of a gestural mimic narration. Using the theory of narrativity and the “canonical passional schema” we will translate a dance performance into a sequence of phases: the ones dancing body faces according to a passionate transformation of the subjects involved in the experience.