“Can a Hybrid Approach to Indian Kathak and Jazz Dance Techniques Assist in Devising a Pedagogic Method for Contemporary Dancers?”.

The blending of dance styles for creativity is an established practice within hybridity. Traditional and contemporary dancers/dances are recognised for their diverse training methods and performance approaches. I was curious about learning their modes of operation in hybrid, artistic and training practices. In developing a research inquiry, I excavated that the training and performance processes/philosophy in traditional dance reveal a rigid approach, that limits the extent to which practitioners can experiment. In response to this strict attitude, my Ph.D. through practice as research investigates the development of a somatic approach to the hybridization of the traditional dance techniques of South Asian Kathak and Western Jazz dance, in an attempt to define a hybrid, dance, pedagogic method and movement system for traditional and contemporary dancers. This thesis contextualises the studio-based, research practice undertaken throughout 4-years. It provides a dialogue surrounding the development of new approaches in somatic pedagogy. The methods drawn from somatic research and pedagogic approaches the hybrid, dance, pedagogic, strategy that emerges, is embedded in the theoretical and conceptual domain of hybridity, phenomenology and auto-ethnography. The research practice, whilst drawing on the ideologies of critical pedagogies and research, systematically questions the current structures in traditional and contemporary dance pedagogy and practice. As a contribution to existing knowledge, the research attempts a somatic dance training method for traditional dancers arising from the self-subjective discovery of the body. The method aims to propose autonomy to the artists in democratically exploring their embodied knowledge through modes of reflective and experiential learning. Contemporary dancers are generally more versed in reflective practices and somatic training methods. Recognising this given facility, it is the hybrid, dance, pedagogic method that arises from hybridising culturally defined and distinctive traditional techniques of Kathak and Jazz dance. This new knowledge emerges despite the aim being to predominantly support ‘traditional’ dance modes, the method also extends itself to training and performance strategies in contemporary dance. This thesis supports the practice research and should be read alongside the practical submission. Threaded through the thesis are web links where videos of the practice research are held, including a lecture demonstration which constitutes the final submission as part of the PhD viva examination.