Our motherland India is diverse in all aspects, especially dance and music. In the primitive age when people used to communicate with gestures to express their feelings most effectively, dance was used as a medium of expressions of the mind and heart through physical movements.

Odissi Dance & Its History

The Origin of the Odissi dance form is found in the Natyashastra, originating in the East coast province of Orissa wherein women performed expressions of religious grandeur bowing down to Lord Krishna an Avatar of Lord Vishnu- He the Supreme Lord Jagannath. This dance drama enacts the mythological story using symbolic costumes, body movements, Abhinaya(expressions) and Mudras (gestural sign language).

Odissi comprises of two major dance forms within itself, one perfected by women primarily focused on spiritual temple dance named “maharis” and the second performed mostly by men dressing themselves as women named “ gotipuas”, which consist of more acrobatic and athletic moves.

“ The sound of the ankle bells, the body in perfect poise, the expression of the spiritual soul
depicts the dancer in form with gestural language bringing flare through the gait as well”

-Vishakha Shah