In the swirls of Odissi

Eastern India’s state of Odisha is home to the dancing style known as odissi. One of the eight Indian traditional dance genres, it is renowned for its lyricism, sensuality, and emphasis on bhakti bhava (a devotional and submissive attitude). Odissi began to be performed on theatre stages in the 1950s, which increased its visibility in India and beyond.

Photo Credits : Roopsa Mukherjee – Odissi Dancer

Since then, scholars and dancers have asserted that the Odissi dance, which was formerly performed in the temples of Odisha, is the earliest of India’s classical dance traditions. These assertions are supported by a variety of architectural, textual, and contemporary ritual traditions. Based on a review of both older and more recent scholarship, it is possible to conclude that Odissi’s development as a ‘classical’ dance style from the middle of the twentieth century onwards was influenced by a variety of historical roots, including the artistic and performance traditions of pre-modern Odisha and the work of artists in post-Independence India.Outside of Odisha, the land was also fertile for odissi. Early in the 1960s, Harekrushna Behera was Delhi’s first Odissi instructor. When the Bharatiya Kala Kendra opened in 1968, Mayadhar Raut relocated there to teach. Perhaps as a result of his schooling at Kalakshetra, he remained devoted to the teaching approach and manner devised by Jayantika. He incorporated elements from the literary and artistic canon into the dance body while drawing inspiration from sculptural reliefs. Dancers like Aloka Panikar, Kiran Segal, and Ranjana Gauhar were excellent examples of the full-bodied sensuality of his technique.