TY - JOUR KW - heritage KW - UNESCO KW - Invented tradition KW - India KW - Folk dance KW - Gypsy KW - Kalbeliya KW - Rajasthan KW - Sapera AU - Ayla Joncheere AB - Since being listed as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2010, Kalbeliya dance from Rajasthan is now generally conceptualized as an ancient tradition from India. However, this same dance practice, also known as a form of Indian Gypsy or snake charmers' folk dance, appears to have originated as recently as the 1980s. This article gives an account of the swift development of Kalbeliya dance from its first appearance on stage in 1981 to the present. Ethnographic research with Kalbeliya dancers' families has elucidated how this inventive dance practice was formed to fit into national and transnational narratives with the aim of commercializing it globally and of generating a new, lucrative livelihood for these Kalbeliya families. As a new cultural product of Rajasthani fusion, the dance finds itself at the crossroads of commercial tourism and political folklorism and is grounded in neo-orientalist discourses (romanticism and exoticism). AN - WOS:000399975200004 BT - Dance Research Journal DA - 2017/04//undefined DB - Scopus DO - 10.1017/S0149767717000055 IS - 1 J2 - Dance Res. J. LA - English N2 - Since being listed as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2010, Kalbeliya dance from Rajasthan is now generally conceptualized as an ancient tradition from India. However, this same dance practice, also known as a form of Indian Gypsy or snake charmers' folk dance, appears to have originated as recently as the 1980s. This article gives an account of the swift development of Kalbeliya dance from its first appearance on stage in 1981 to the present. Ethnographic research with Kalbeliya dancers' families has elucidated how this inventive dance practice was formed to fit into national and transnational narratives with the aim of commercializing it globally and of generating a new, lucrative livelihood for these Kalbeliya families. As a new cultural product of Rajasthani fusion, the dance finds itself at the crossroads of commercial tourism and political folklorism and is grounded in neo-orientalist discourses (romanticism and exoticism). PY - 2017 SN - 01497677 (ISSN) SP - 37 EP - 54 EP - T2 - Dance Research Journal TI - Kalbeliya Dance from Rajasthan: Invented Gypsy Form or Traditional Snake Charmers' Folk Dance? UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85018539735&doi=10.1017%2fS0149767717000055&partnerID=40&md5=b5068cda82d3772857402b1934fe9cc4 VL - 49 ER -