Shiva Onstage: Uday Shankar's Company of Hindu Dancers and Musicians in Europe and the United States, 1931-38

When Uday Shankar and his company launched their inaugural world tour in Paris in 1931, both European and American audiences received the ensemble enthusiastically. How could this group of foreigners have been so successful on Western stages? Bringing together numerous reviews on Shankar and early ethnographic writings, Diana Brenscheidt gen. Jost examines the distinct, often spiritually-biased, image Indian dance and music held at the beginning of the 20th century in the West, an image which would also crucially affect the self-perception of Indian dance and music traditions in the East.