THE POLITICS OF DANCE IN PAKISTAN’S PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERE

This article examines how dance in Pakistan functions as a politically charged and gendered practice that both contests and reproduces power. Positioned at the intersection of art, activism, class, and religion, dance becomes not only an expressive movement of the body but a form of claiming space, visibility, and dignity in a context where women’s presence in public life remains contested. Focusing on the life histories and activist trajectories of seminal dancers such as Sheema Kermani and Nighat Chaudhry, we analyze how dance has served as embodied political resistance from the era of General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization to the present digital age.

Our research draws on ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and visual documentation from cultural events including the Aurat March, Jalib Mela, and the WOW Festival 2025. By grounding our study in feminist spatial theory and performance studies, we trace how informal dance spaces: private basements, shrines, and community festivals, emerged as subversive sites in response to state censorship and moral surveillance.

Our findings reveal three central tensions. First, dance becomes publicly “acceptable” only under certain classed and gendered conditions: celebrated on elite stages, yet stigmatized when practiced by women in streets, shrines, or working-class neighborhoods. Second, although dance acts as a feminist tool of resistance, the economic realities of teaching and performing confine many practitioners to elite institutions, limiting accessibility for working-class women. Third, digital platforms have increased visibility for dance, yet often reduce classical forms to commodified, Bollywood-influenced aesthetics optimized for virality.