Performing Difference: Indian Temple Dancers and the Politics of Repertoire in 1838 London

In 1838, five South Indian temple dancers arrived in England and performed at London’s Adelphi Theatre (amongst other venues) an event that marked the earliest encounters between British audiences and the temple dancers in Britain. At Adelphi, rather than presenting their own repertoire, these dancers were absorbed into pre- existing orientalist theatrical frameworks such as The Widow of Malabar, where their presence served to authenticate and exoticize colonial fantasies of “the East.” This paper explores how the Adelphi performances exemplify the complex negotiations of agency, authorship, and cultural translation at work in nineteenth-century transnational performance. Drawing on archival reviews, playbills, and visual depictions, I examine how these dancers’ embodied practices were simultaneously constrained by and resistant to the imperial gaze. By situating this episode within broader histories of colonial spectatorship and representation, I argue that the 1838 performances reveal both the erasure and endurance of South Asian performance traditions in early British modernity. Ultimately, this case illuminates how empire shaped not only what was seen on stage, but how cultural difference itself was choreographed for metropolitan consumption.

Ranjini Nair completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where her research focused on Indian dance and its replication of socio-religious hierarchies. She continues to teach part-time at the university, writes on dance and performance, and is building her dance and teaching practice delivering workshops and guest lectures.