{"id":269,"date":"2017-10-02T17:48:29","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T14:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/?p=269"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T13:39:11","slug":"orissi-solo-dance-style-of-orissa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/orissi-solo-dance-style-of-orissa\/","title":{"rendered":"Orissi<\/em>, Solo Dance Style of Orissa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Orissi<\/em> (also odissi<\/em>) is the lasya<\/em>-style solo dance from the eastern state of Orissa. Like bharatanatyam<\/em>, its technique stems directly from the ancient Drama Manual<\/em>, the Natyashastra<\/em>. However, there are slight differences between these two styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Orissi is the form of lasya<\/em> from the eastern state of Orissa Jukka O. Miettinen<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where bharatanatyam<\/em> emphasises symmetry, orissi<\/em> places more emphasis on curved poses, jumps, as well as hip deflections, which are rather rare in the other classical solo forms. The present form of orissi<\/em> is a fruit of the Vishnu bhakti<\/em> movement of the region, which is also strongly reflected in its repertoire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There seems to be a consensus that orissi<\/em> is an eastern regional variety of the lasya-<\/em>type dances mentioned in the Natyashastra<\/em>. There exists sculptural evidence in a Buddhist cave temple in Orissa from the 2nd<\/sup> century BC, which shows dancers in poses almost similar to those of today\u2019s orissi<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
The medieval temples of Orissa preserve many dance-related reliefs. Below is the flute-playing Krishna, to whom many of the dances are dedicated. Above is a dancer with a strongly bent body, a feature typical of orissi<\/em> even today Jukka O. Miettinen<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the period of the 7th<\/sup> century AD onwards, when Orissa came under Hindu influence, much more written as well as visual evidence exists to throw light on the history of orissi<\/em>. The magnificent medieval Hindu temples of the region are full of dance reliefs. From the later medieval period, from approximately the 15th to the 17th<\/sup> centuries, orissi<\/em> manuals are also available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In content and even in style orissi<\/em> is strongly influenced by the Vishnu bhakti<\/a><\/em> movement, which started to flourish in the region from the 8th<\/sup> century onwards. The widespread bhakti<\/em> poem, the Gita Govinda<\/a><\/em>, was written by a local poet, Jayadeva. Thus the Gita Govinda<\/em> with its Kirishna-Radha theme became an important source for the abhinaya<\/em> sections or orissi<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the big temple complexes, orissi<\/em> was practised by the devadasis<\/em>, or the female temple servants. However, there was also a temple tradition in which male dancers, dressed as women, performed it. In fact, the tradition of male dancers is rather strong in the orissi<\/em> tradition even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Technique<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As already mentioned above, technically orissi<\/em> shares a great deal with bharatanatyam<\/em> and the other lasya<\/em> forms simply because they are all offspring of the same ancient tradition. However, the frequent tribhanga<\/em> (thrice bent) standing positions and hip deflections are characteristic of orissi<\/em>, as are curved and sometimes relaxed extensions of the upper body. All these tend to give orissi<\/em> a kind of sensuous quality, not so prominent in the more strict and symmetric style of bharatanatyam.Orissi<\/em> also employs more elevations, jumps and floor positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Repertoire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
The opening prayer of an orissi<\/em> recital Jukka O. Miettinen<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As in bharatanatyam<\/em> and the other forms of lasya<\/em>, the present repertoire of orissi<\/em> consists of short numbers including abhinaya<\/em> mime and pure nrtta<\/em> dance sequences. The performance is preceded by bhumi pranam<\/em>, which venerates the earth and the ground on which the performance takes place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first actual number is batu nritya<\/em>, a demanding dance, which introduces the whole technical range of orissi<\/em>. Then follows ista devata vandana<\/em>, an abhinaya<\/em> number telling about the deeds of one particular deity, chosen by the dancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the above numbers are accompanied by rhythm only. They are followed by a pure nrtta<\/em> dance, swara pallawi<\/em>, in which a raga<\/em>-based melody is gradually introduced. Then follow one or more gitabhinayas<\/em>. Like the padams<\/em> of bharatanatyam<\/em>, these abhinaya<\/em> numbers are based on sung poems dealing with love and longing. In orissi<\/em> they are often based on the verses of Jayadeva\u2019s ecstatic Gita Govinda<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A modern group choreography based on the orissi<\/em> technique Sakari Viika<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like tillana<\/em>, bharatanatyam\u2019s<\/em> final dance, the orissi<\/em> repertoire\u2019s last big number, tarajan<\/em>, is also a virtuosic abstract nrtta<\/em> dance. The Orissi repertoire went through several changes at the end of the 20th<\/sup> century. New poems and music were introduced, and now the performance often ends with mokshya<\/em>, a dance illustrating the final salvation of a human soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orissi (also odissi) is the lasya-style solo dance from the eastern state of Orissa. Like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4762,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269\/revisions\/4762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disco.teak.fi\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}