The movement of Mohiniyattam dance is a rich semeiotic system that is inclusive of controversy, embodied gender ideals, and cultural information. The historical and cultural conditions that enabled the emergence of Mohiniyattam as the epitome of "lasya" ("feminine") unfolded out of a specific historical and cultural moment. Tradition and Transformation in Mohiniyattam Dance: An Ethnographic History demonstrates how Mohiniyattam, a form previously stigmatized, was reinvented as a Sign of traditional Keralite Womanhood. The book traces how the emergence of Mohiniyattam as a traditional form of dance based on a feminine aesthetic was synchronistic with the outlawing of polyandrous marriage practices and devadasi practices as well as changes in matrilineal inheritance the outlawing of and reforms in women's dress customs in Kerala, India. These layers of history and cultural meaning permitted Mohiniyattam's renaissance as a Sign of female grace and tradition. Throughout, the author argues that practicing and learning movement is a gateway to understanding a system of semiosis. Danced movement itself can be a locust, a bell-weather, and even an agent of social change.

As stories of Indian dance's renaissance span almost a full century, there has emerged a globally dispersed community of Indian dancers, scholars and audiences who are deeply committed to keeping these traditions alive and experimenting with traditional dance languages to grapple with contemporary themes and issues. Scripting Dance in Contemporary India is an edited volume that contributes to this field of Indian dance studies. The book engages with multiple dance forms of India and their representations. The contributions are eclectic, including writings by both scholars and performers who share their experiential knowledge. There are four sections in the book - section I titled, "Representations' has three chapters that deal with textual representations and illustrations of dance and dancers, and the significance of those representations in the present. Section II titled, "Histories in Process" consists of two chapters that engage with the historiographies of dance forms and suggest that histories are narratives that are continually created. In the third section, "Negotiations", the four chapters address the different ways in which dance is embedded in society, and the different ways in which the aesthetics of a form has to negotiate with social, economic and political imperatives. The final section, "Other Voices/ Other Bodies" brings voices which are outside the mainstream of dance as 'serious' art.