In this talk, I offer play as a framework for conceiving of music as dance—and vice versa. I do so by exploring creativity in kathak. Often described as North Indian “classical” dance, the form evokes a percussive aesthetics, in which practitioners tap and slap their feet on the floor along with accompanying musicians. Drawing on ethnographic research among practitioners—which includes my own twenty-year practice, I argue for musical play as form in kathak. Play as kathak dissents dominant ethnonationalist narratives while opening pathways to a capacious methodology for designing movement from musical creativity, and music as choreography.

Ameera Nimjee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Yale University, where she also holds appointments in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies and South Asian Studies. Her primary research is on the study of how bodies move aesthetically, culturally, and politically in South Asian performance traditions. Ameera is currently completing a book on creativity in Indian contemporary dance. Her essays have been published in various journals and volumes, such as South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies and Music and Dance as Everyday South Asia (Oxford, 2024). She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Ethnomusicology and a Bachelor of Music in classical piano. Also a performer, Ameera is a kathak dancer in Toronto-based Chhandam Dance Company under the artistic direction of her teacher Joanna de Souza. She continues to play various keyboard instruments, including piano and harmonium, on which she performs in Hindustani and fusion music.