Staging a cultural collaboration: Louise Lightfoot and Ananda Shivaram's first Indian dance tour of Australia, 1947-1949

One of the most highly stylized of the Indian forms of dance-drama, Kathakali has also received the greatest amount of attention on the global stage. We argue that its international exposure began with the performances of Ananda Shivaram, as managed by the Australian impresario Louise Lightfoot, in a landmark intercultural collaboration. From 1947 to 1949, Shivaram, along with an ensemble of Australian dancers, successfully toured Australia, adapting a range of Kathakali dance-dramas to performance in an international context. Lightfoot organized and publicized the tour, translated texts, and explained the art of Kathakali - virtually unknown - to excited Australian audiences. Using newspaper reports, advertisements, program brochures, and promoter's notes, we chart the performer's and the impresario's journeys, how they fostered intercultural understanding, and how Shivaram became a cultural ambassador for India.