A recent exhibition in San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum highlighted the importance of dance and its historical and political impact across many Asian countries including Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. According to Artnet, this exhibition incorporated 120 pieces of artwork from 25 museums and private collections to show that dance is power and it symbolizes the energy and power of many deities.

Many Hollywood musicals inspire Bollywood movies, however, this exhibition emphasizes how Bollywood films also take inspiration from ancient stories that are seen across many Asian countries. From the compilation of images from the exhibit that the article includes, it seems as though this exhibition utilized many statues of deities dancing to show that the inspiration for Bollywood dancing can be from many different religions. The contrasting ways these statues are dancing also show that dance could have been used in different ways in different cultures. For instance, the article mentions how dance can be used as a form of seduction, which I think relates to many Bollywood films and is also seen in the statues that are housed in the exhibit. 

One of the final works in the exhibition that this article points out is a three-channel 2016 video that fills a whole room. The piece shows the streets of Singapore with people practicing their dance. I think that this work is important because it shows that dance in Asia has been an essential aspect of their culture for centuries. Including this piece as one of the final stops in the exhibition allows the viewer to relate to the entire exhibition since the power of dance is still very relevant in the 21st century, as seen in this video of Singapore. 

Ultimately I think that this exhibition is important because it uses art from many different countries in Asia to make people more knowledgeable about their cultures, which is also the main goal of having an Asian Art Museum in the United States. Demonstrating the similarities of their cultures through the significance of dance allows Western audiences to make connections between their own cultures and those of Asian countries. The exhibition therefore shows that dance is universal and it is a big aspect of many cultures.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/see-inside-bollywood-museum-show-2277615