Imagining Through Appropriation? Exploring Contested Migrations of Bollywood Dance

This essay examines the intricate relationship between Bollywood dance, authenticity, emerging media, and cultural appropriation. Crucially, I suggest that Bollywood dance itself as a messy amalgamation of diverse cultural influences that cross media formats. From classical Indian dance to hip-hop, jazz, and contemporary dance, I define Bollywood dance as a complex and at times problematic blending of Indian-veneered influences that now compete with Indian classical in representing an imagined India to the broader global public. And yet, the mixing of styles and character-driven choreography that have long been inherent to dances in Hindi films since their inception continues to imbue the process of creating localized live Bollywood dances with tacit permission for dancers and teachers to create “original,” yet profoundly remixed, compositions. In fact, one could say that Bollywood dance is a dance form that has historically benefited appropriation, raising questions around how cultural authenticity is constructed. In this essay, I lay out my thinking and approach to mediated Bollywood dance as an invitation into a more nuanced consideration of the intricate interplay between cultural exchange, emerging media, authenticity and appropriation.