Overview
Odissi (Odia: ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ), also referred to as Orissi in older literature, is a major classical dance of India that originated in the temples of Odisha, an eastern coastal state. Regarded as one of the oldest surviving classical dance traditions of India, Odissi has historically been performed predominantly by women and was used to express religious stories and spiritual ideas, particularly those of Vaishnavism, through songs composed according to the ragas and talas of Odissi music by poets of the region.
While Vaishnava themes are central, Odissi performances have also conveyed ideas associated with Shiva, Surya, and the Hindu goddesses of the Shakta tradition. The theoretical foundations of the dance trace back to the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra. Its antiquity is evidenced by dance poses depicted in the sculptures of Kalingan temples and at archaeological sites linked with Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Odissi was suppressed during British rule; this suppression was protested by Indians, and the dance saw revival, reconstruction and expansion after India gained independence.
Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, in which artists and musicians enact a story, a spiritual message or a devotional poem drawn from Hindu texts. It employs symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) as set out in ancient Sanskrit literature. Classical Odia literature and the Gita Govinda, set to traditional Odissi music, are commonly used for the abhinaya portions.
Odissi is learnt and performed as a composite of a basic dance motif known as the Bhangas, which are symmetric body bends and stances. It engages the lower body (footwork), mid body (torso) and upper body (hand and head) as three sources for perfecting expression and audience engagement, characterised by geometric symmetry and rhythmic musical resonance. A typical Odissi performance repertoire includes an invocation, nritta (pure dance), nritya (expressive dance), natya (dance drama) and moksha (a dance climax connoting spiritual liberation).