‘You are not invisible’: a qualitative study examining ritual, pedagogical relationships, and student visibility in kathak dance

This paper examines how rituals contribute to developing pedagogical relationships among Asian American youth and their teacher in a kathak dance program. The research draws from ethnographic data collected at a community-based organization. It is driven by the following research question: How do pedagogical relationships with immigrant youth in a classical Indian dance class promote student visibility? It suggests ethnic practices, customs and rituals embedded in class can give youth crucial visibility by staff, which counters social narratives situating Asian American youth as ‘silen[t] and contain[ed],’, or invisible. Importantly, rituals built into the framework of a dance class over time ensure a longevity to students’ presence. This paper contributes to the discourse on dance education by highlighting culturally relevant pedagogical relationships to reveal unique contextual information about each mover.