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> Odissi Dance |
| Odissi
Dance |
| With
social and political change in Indian society and later
the suppression of the 'mahari' or 'devadasi' tradition
by the British authorities, this classical dance form
moved out of the temples and took up a place in the
wider Indian society, being performed by individual
dancers, travelling and local dance troupes. This process
began in the 16th century with young dancers called
'Gotipuas', performing the dance outside on the temples.
Much
of Odissi was revived while India fought for her independence
through the early years of this century and after Independence
in 1949. It was necessary indeed for some of the regeneration
of the dance to arise from research on the sculptures
of the temples in Orissa because a very significant
part of the dance had been lost. It was revived by a
number of individuals, who crystallised the repertoire
and trained new performers and teachers; people such
as Pankaja Charan Das, Kelu Charan Mahapatra, Mohadev
Rout, Deba Prasad Das and Hare Krishna Behera. The great
teachers of the classical dance forms are known as gurus
and are treated with great respect by their pupils,
the relationship being more like that one has with a
priest.
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| Attaining
spirituality through dance |
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The
classical dance form of Odissi is a dance form made
up of its own vocabulary of foot positions, head movements,
eye movements, body positions, hand gestures, rhythmic
foot work, jumps, turns and spins. The dance form is
then in turn made up of traditional dance pieces which
have been handed down from teacher to pupil. Some of
these pieces have been formulated in the distant past
when it was used in temple worship, others arise from
the great Indian spiritual writings, such as poetry
and epic stories, and finally there are modern pieces
which have been the inspired work of the gurus and choreographed
by them.
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| A
typical Odissi dance pose. |
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The
key noticeable difference between the two forms, Odissi
and Bharata Natyam, is that Odissi has more curves,
curves of the body which can make it a more sensual
dance form, as opposed to the athleticism and angular
nature of Bharata Natyam. Poses, as one might find in
Indian sculpture, are at the core of Odissi. The most
beautiful of these is the 'tribunga' position, with
three bends in the body, at the neck, waist and knee.
If you go to any collection of Indian art, you will
see sculptures of goddesses and dancers in 'tribunga'
position dating back many hundreds of years.
Please
visit our group site www.odissidance.org
for detailed information |
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| Odissa.Biz |
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