A soft, lyrical and erotic style of classical dance for women, found in E India. It is characterized by the sensuous movement of the dancers, abruptly frozen into sculptured poses. Representations of these may be seen in the carvings of the great temples of Orissa, EC India.
Introduction
The classical dance style of Orissa - the land of temples, the land of sculptures. The flowing movements and graceful poses of the dance bring to mind the breathtaking beauty of Orissa's temple sculptures. Whether the chiseled beauty of the temple sculptures inspire the dance, or the sculptures depict the dance is a conundrum. Tribhangi - the three - bend body position relating to Lord Krishna and Chowka - the square posture relating to Lord Jagganath along with many other graceful postures blended together can be seen hewn on the temple stones or executed exquisitely by the dancers. The dance is sculpture in movement and sculpture is frozen dance.
Odissi like all other classical dance styles of India has its roots in the temple. Various rituals have been connected with the temple and the worship of Lord Jagganath, dance being one of them. In the different forms of bhakti (devotion), dance and music have enjoyed equal importance. The Odissi dance, its growth, development, support, and existence have been inseparably linked with temple rituals.
Odissi may claim to be the earliest classical dance style of India on the basis of archeological evidence - the most outstanding being the Rani Gumpha caves (Udaygiri, Orissa) of the second century BC. These are the very first specimens of a dance scene with full orchestration found in sculptures of that historical period.
Whatever mention Odissi has in caves and treatises, the living tradition of the Odissi dance form has been kept up by the Maharis and the Gotipuas. The Maharis would sing and dance for the Deity. The Maharis performed dance sequences based on the lyrics of the Geet Govind of poet Jayadev. Before the time of Jayadev, the Maharis performed mainly nritta (pure dance) and abhinaya based on mantras &
Various reasons are attributed to the discontinuance of the Mahari tradition of dance and the emergence of the Gotipua tradition. Gotipuas were young boys dressed as girls and made to dance. They were taught the dance by the Maharis. But once the Gotipuas - these young boys were taught the dance, it stepped out of the precincts of the temples. 0ne of the reasons given for the emergence of Gotipuas is, that the Vaishnavites did not approve of dancing by women.
Most of the present day Gurus themselves have been Gotipua dancers, and in their turn passed on the dance form to dancers and teachers all over India and abroad. They have created a generation of highly talented dancers who have ensured the continuity of the dance form with an awareness and enriched consciousness, not by merely repeating what is handed down to them, but by creating and offering an aesthetic experience that carries the dance to greater heights. It was Priyambada Mohanty who represented Orissa in the classical dance category at an Inter University Youth Festival. Dr Charles Fabri hailed Odissi as a great dance form. He helped Indrani Rehman study the dance form and the initial credit for bringing Odissi to the international scene goes to this great dancer.
With Gurus like late Padmavibhushan Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, late Guru Pankaj Charan Das, late Guru Deb Prasad Das, Guru Mayadhar Raut and dancers like Late Sanjukuta Panigrahi, Kum Kum Mohanty, Sonal Mansingh, Madhavi Mudgal and Late Protima Gauri, the propagation of Odissi is in full swing.
In recent years a number of institutions and individuals in India and abroad are imparting training in this dance form. On the whole the Odissi dance scene today is pulsating, having crossed the national frontiers it has become part of the international scene.
Dance Vocabulary and Repertoire
The two main postures used in Odissi are the tribhanga and chouka.
A typical Odissi repertoire consists of the invocatory item 'Mangalacharan', a tribute to Lord Jagannath and the other Gods, also with stanzas to welcome the audience and to thank one's Gurus.
There are 'pallavis', which are pure dance pieces performed to 'bols', which are strings of rhythmic syllables.
Other common items include Dasavatara, a dance descibing the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu, and Batu Nritya, based on Lord Shiva.
Artists
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Guru Pankaj Charan Das and Guru Deba Prasad Das were some of the foremost proponents of Odissi. The current crop of dancers includes Sujata Mohapatra, Aloka Kanungo, Gangadhar Pradhan, Durga Charan Ranbir, Jhelum Paranjape, Ramli Ibrahim, Surupa Sen, Ratna Roy, Madhavi Mudgal, Daksha Mashruwala, Debi Basu, Anandi Ramchandran, Ritha Devi, Monalisa Ghosh, and many others.
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