As has been seen, the early pioneers of \u201cmodern\u201d Indian dance and dance-drama were, to a great extent, busy in adapting the Indian traditions to basically Western stage aesthetics, dominated by the proscenium stage, the stage d\u00e9cor and modern lighting. The old art forms were removed from their originally religious context to that of theatre.<\/p>\n
While this took place, the original religious-philosophical content of the traditional performing arts was replaced by a new kind of concept of \u201cspirituality\u201d or \u201cmysticism\u201d reflecting two international trends, that of theosophical thinking, so popular both in the West and in India, as well as the yearning for everything \u201cEastern\u201d and \u201cExotic\u201d, dominating the Orientalistic movement around the Western world.<\/p>\n
On the practical level, the new productions were created by the modern pioneers themselves, who were familiar with the Western trends. Many of them, as well as many of their followers, aimed to create dance-dramas. Thus many dance-dramas based on bharatanatyam, kathak, Manipuri<\/i> etc. technique came into being.<\/p>\n
The artist who took a step towards a more modern concept of dance in India was Chandralekha (1928\u20132006). She was born in Gujarat and, after a short period of studying law, she started her studies in southern Indian classical dance.<\/p>\n\n\t\t