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The most comprehensive view of the evolution of dancing in India is one that is derived from Sanskrit textual sources. In the beginning of the tradition of discourse on dancing, of which the earliest extant example is the Natyasastra of Bharata Muni, dancing was regarded as a technique for adding the beauty of abstract form to dramatic performances. An ancillary to drama rather than an independent art, it carried no meaning and elicited no emotional response. Gradually, however, its autonomy was recognized as also its communicative power and it began to be discussed fully in treatises rather than in works on drama or poetics-a clear sign of its growing importance in India's cultural life. Bharata's description of the body movements in dancing and their interrelationship not only provided the taxonomy for all subsequent authors on dancing but much of the information on its actual technique. However, Bharata described only what he considered to be artistically the most cultivated of all the existing dance styles, leaving out regional and popular varieties. These styles, similar in their basic technique to Bharata's style but comprising new types of movements and methods of composition, began to be included in later studies. By the 16th century they came to occupy the central position in the accounts of contemporary dancing and coalesced into a distinct tradition that has remained essentially unchanged to the present time. Striking technical parallels relate modern styles such as Kathak and Odissi to the later tradition rather than to Bharata's. The textual evidence thus shows that dancing in India evolved by assimilating new forms and techniques and by moving away from its early dependency on drama. In the process it also widened its aesthetic scope beyond decorative grace to encompass emotive communication. Beauty of form was thus wedded to the matter of emotional content, resulting in the growth of a complex art form.

This thesis analyses the transmission of the Deirdre legend in adaptations from the earliest written sources to the versions of the writers of the early twentieth century Irish Literary Revival. Its aim is to trace the way that the refashioning of the story is informed by the cultural and political contexts within which each writer was working, as well as the more personal and aesthetic motivations behind the various adaptations. The texts chosen for close study represent key moments in the transmission process, both for their treatment of the legend and for the specific context to which this treatment responds. After an introduction dealing with the medieval versions, the thesis is divided into six chapters which chart these key moments in chronological order, ending with J. M. Synge's play Deirdre of the Sorrows, published in 1910. Part of the conclusion is given over to tracing the legend's fate in adaptations since the advent of Irish independence. The chronological framework adopted allows a new perspective to emerge which reveals that the Deirdre legend provided a means of reflecting on the various cultural and political conflicts in which Irish identity has been implicated. The thesis demonstrates that the ancient Irish material was used to valorise the writers' contemporary Irish or Scottish culture at times when this culture was under threat, and that following independence the connection between Deirdre and Eire largely disappeared. The particular use to which the legend was put therefore depended on two factors: the specific conflicts with which each writer was engaging and the various connections which they perceived between the present and the mythical past.

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In recent decades, research into human cognition has unveiled in-depth insights into the structures and processes involved in the encoding, storage and retrieval of information. As human working memory is limited in both duration and capacity, cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988, 1989, 1993, 1994; Sweller & Chandler 1994; Chandler & Sweller 1991; 1996) asserts that information should be designed in a way that does not mentally overload learners. However, instructional designs rarely take into account cognitive processes when structuring teaching materials. In fact, many traditional forms of instruction were devised prior to fundamental research into cognitive load effects. As a result, learners are often subjected to cognitive overload when required to engage in extraneous tasks that are not directly related to meaningful learning. This is a particular problem for intrinsically complex Shakespearean works, renowned to be some of the most difficult texts students may ever encounter. Acknowledging that Shakespearean texts were written for performance, they are not always studied as such. Frequently, the texts are read around the class, whereby the focus is not dramatic but literary. Therefore, under the current system of study it is necessary to investigate instruction for reading comprehension of Shakespearean texts. Reading Shakespeare's plays will often overwhelm working memory resources and cause comprehension problems due to the many interactive elements of information readers are required to process simultaneously. This is a significant issue as Shakespeare's works hold a great deal of literary, dramatic, and linguistic significance and their study forms a compulsory part of school curriculum and assessment that affects all students from English speaking nations. By tradition conventional modes of instruction for Shakespearean texts require readers to consult disparate sources of information such as footnotes and endnotes that may contain either inadequate or unnecessary detail. Having to search for relevant information and mentally integrate separate sources of text results in a split attention effect and causes high levels of unnecessary cognitive load. As a result, Shakespeare's texts continue to be such a struggle for many students that some educational faculties have started to initiate the removal of Shakespeare from curriculum instead of developing more effective instructional methods for this domain. This study applies cognitive load theory as a means of investigating the comprehension of Shakespeare by testing the effects of explanatory notes integrated line by line with original Shakespearean verse. Previous studies in cognitive load theory have indicated that restructuring material in accordance with cognitive principles can optimise learning. However, the majority of these studies have focused on technical areas.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 31-32.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, November 2008.

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