Publications – Avantika

Books

Monograph

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

Springer Nature, South Asian Performance Studies Series.

Two performers in bright, ornate Chavittu Nadakam costumes stand in bold, theatrical poses at the center. Their outfits glow with deep magenta, gold accents, and vivid blue details, framed by elaborate shoulder pieces and layered fabrics that catch the light. Other performers appear in the background.

Kings of the Shoreline: A Performance of Karalsmann Chavittu Nadakam

In Continued Traditions and Histories of Performing Arts, Projects/Processes Series, Vol. 3

Co-authored with Amitava Sanyal and Maya Palit, Serendipity Arts Festival / HarperCollins, India, 2019.

Book Chapters

A group of dancers in wheelchairs performs Bharatanatyam hand gestures in coordinated poses, dressed in bright traditional costumes.

Performing Disability: Representation and Power in ‘Classical’ Indian Dance

Performing Disability: Representation and Power in 'Classical' Indian Dance

Routledge, London & New York, 2018.

A close-up of a Kathakali performer having vivid green, red, and black makeup gently wiped from their face.

1,000+ Stage Performances: A Conversation with Chemancheri Kunjiraman Nair

In Acting for the Stage (PERFORM Series), eds. Anna Weinstein and Chris Qualis

Focal Press, Routledge, New York, 2017.

Refereed Journal Articles

A Komaram woman from Kodungallur Bharani stands holding a sword, blood running down her forehead as onlookers watch.

Bleeding Foreheads: Divine and Healing Bodies in the Rituals and Performances of Kerala

Performance Research, Special Issue: On Blood, October 2023

Bhappiriyan Teyyam sits on a coconut tree trunk at night, holding a coconut and lit dramatically against the dark sky.

Politics and Poetics of Syncretism (co-authored)

Case studies from Bonbibi cult, Mappila Teyyam, and Bhakti poetry

Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Special Issue: Collaborative Research in Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Kansas, November 2021.

A Kathakali Ninam performer covered in vivid red stands surrounded by torch flames, their tall headgear glowing as firelight and sparks fill the dark night.

Performing Disfiguration: Construction of the ‘Primitive’ and the Ambiguities of Representing Pain in Kathakali

Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship, Themed Issue: Dance in Practice, Pedagogy and Policies, September 2017.

Pottan Teyyam surrounded by flames and torches moves through a nighttime ritual space, sparks filling the air.

Performing Disfiguration: Staging of Relationalities in Pottan Teyyam

Performance Research, Special Issue: On Disfiguration, March 2019.

Three Bharatanatyam dancers, one using a wheelchair and one using crutches, alongside a standing nondisabled dancer. The standing Bharatanatyam dancer adjusts the arm positions of the wheelchair dancers, guiding their classical mudras.

Prosthetic Rasa: Dance on Wheels and Challenged Kinaesthetics

Research in Drama Education (RiDE): Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, Special Issue: International Perspectives on Performance, Disability, and Deafness, August 2017.