Volume 4: 2022
Author:
Rabail Faizan
Abstract:
This paper examines the representation of trans women dancers on Pakistani screens. By undertaking a close analysis of the drama Moorat (dir. Kamran Qureshi, 2004), the short film Darling (dir. Saim Sadiq, 2020), the music video Madam (dir. Sana Jafri, 2017), and its extended version which includes interviews of trans women, Madam – extended version (Speaking to the Khwaja Sira Community) (dir. Patari, 2017), this paper will discuss the multi-dimensional role of dance in the lives of trans women dancers as depicted on-screen. It explores dance as an essential element of the transfeminine identity and seeks to explain the embeddedness of dance into the lives of trans women by engaging in historical analysis. It then elaborates on the use of dance as an instrument of exclusion; how it contributes to the marginalization of trans women and prohibits their entrance and movement within the private sphere of the home and the public space of the mohalla (‘neighborhood’). The essay also engages with literature on deviance, social inclusion, and the male gaze to understand how dance acts as a tool for the inclusion of trans women dancers in the “trans-home” where guru- chela (‘teacher-disciple’) relationships are constructed, and in the community of stage performers.
Keywords
Transgender Dancers,Transgender Cinema, Khawaja Sira, Gender in Cinema, Gender-based violence, Discrimination against Transgender, trans women
