Introduction: All That is Dance

My project of writing a monograph on critical dance studiesCritical Dance Studies in and from India started with the idea of questioning the umbrella term ‘Indian danceIndian dance’—used to designate all types of dance from and in India—through a geopoliticalGeopolitical understanding of this almost bounded and hence identifiable collection of dances. Such an umbrella term erases the unique identitiesIdentities of dance and embodied practicesEmbodied practices from particular communitiesCommunities, for whom such specific communicative practicesCommunicative practices work as markers of identity, tools for generating solidaritySolidarity, and a shared sense of belonging. It also challenges the idea of microspecialitiesMicro-specialities of local and embodied knowledge systems as rhizomicRhizomic structures within and across regions in the country.