Performing Disfiguration: Pain, Affect and Staging of Relationalities in Performances

This book explores the processes of disfiguration in the ‘classical’ and ‘ritual-healing’ performances of India, with a particular focus on the rich and diverse performance traditions of Kerala. It examines three modes of disfiguration—’blood,’ ‘madness,’ and ‘laughter’—to offer unique insights into how these elements shape the performative body. By drawing on Kerala’s distinctive cultural and ritual contexts, this work provides a deep understanding of the region’s embodied practices. Written from an interdisciplinary perspective, the book blends performance studies with detailed ethnographic descriptions to capture the nuances of ‘pain’ and ‘affect.’ It challenges and subverts normative notions of performance, offering a fresh lens through which to view these dynamic traditions. This book serves as an invaluable resource for scholars of dance, performance studies, and practitioners seeking to explore the interplay between region, ritual, and disfiguration in Indian performance forms.

Akhila Vimal C. is a dancer and a performance theorist. Her research explores the intersection of performance studies, ritual studies, ethnochoreology, dance pedagogy, reception studies and disability aesthetics. Her work focuses on intercultural performance traditions from India, including history, training, principles, contemporary practices and textual narratives. She recently finished her Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of World Arts Cultures/Dance, UCLA. As a visually impaired dancer, Akhila’s research is located at the intersection of performance and disability, blind dance pedagogy and practice as research. Her doctorate is in Theatre and Performance Studies from the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU (2021). An extensive corpus of work indicates significant contributions to intellectual debate, with articles appearing prominently in prestigious journals and edited volumes. In recognition of her contributions to the Performance and Disability scholarship, she received the International Federation of Theatre Research (IFTR) New Scholar Award in 2021. Akhila serves as the guest editor of the Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, affiliated with the World Dance Alliance. Additionally, she was elected as the first vice president for Access, Equity and Inclusion with the Association for Asian Performance (2024–26). She is also the co-authors of the Harper Collins book Continued Traditions and Histories of Performing Arts. She is the Founder & Managing Trustee of Sapta Foundation, an interdisciplinary initiative committed to accessibility, inclusivity, sacred ecology, cultural continuity, equitable education, and justice across physical, cultural, ecological, and knowledge landscapes in India.