Indian Classical Dance....Odissi

""Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics."

- Fritjof Capra


Odissi dance is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. Its origin is traced to the state of Orissa in eastern India. It is the oldest surviving dance form of India on the basis of archaeological evidences. The classic treatise of Indian dance, Natya Shastra, refers to it as Odra-Magadhi. First century BCE bas-reliefs in the hills ofUdaygiri (near Bhubaneswar) testify to its antiquity. It was suppressed under the British Raj, but has been revitalised since India gained independence. It is particularly distinguished from other classical Indian dance forms by the importance it places upon the Tribhangi (literally: three parts break), the independent movement of head, chest and pelvis and upon the basic square stance known as Chauka or Chouka that symbolises Lord Jagannath.



SRABONTI DUTTA  Indian Classical Danseuse  (Odissi)

We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least onceFriedrich Nietszche