ABSTRACT
Texts from various sources in the 1850s tend to stress the differences in attitudes towards Indian dance, both in the South and in the North. Those who write on the subject come at it from different angles and occupations, from British missionaries to German natural scientists, with a few amateur commentators thrown in. As the title of this chapter suggests, the preoccupation of most of these writers was with the physical beauty and charm of the dancers rather than their art, and they coupled that beauty with what they perceived to be an immoral and lascivious way of life.
