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Rejecting regulated postural syntax of Classical Dance forms, Rabindra Nritya emphasizes on the free-flowing body’s kinaesthetic continuity. Closely analysing Tagore’s dance dramas Chitrangada, Chandalika, and Shyama, this paper argues that Tagore frames the body as a repository of lived experiences being transformed into lyrical gestures. Maurice Merleau-Ponty in Phenomenology of Perception argues that "Our body is not an object; it is a grouping of lived-through meanings which moves towards its equilibrium." Tagore’s protagonists embody a body which is the primary medium through which life expresses itself. Their identity is evolving, not fixed as is argued by Deleuze & Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus that "Becoming is to enter a zone of proximity, indiscernibility, or intensity." This research engages discussions on fluid bodies and the transformative power of dance, reaffirming Tagore’s enduring relevance within global embodied performance studies.
Geeti Maity. “Fluid Bodies, Liminal Selves: Rabindra Nritya as an Aesthetic of Becoming in Tagore’s Dance Dramas.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2026, pp. 1042–1059. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n2.66.
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