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ODISSI DANCE

St. Stephen's was greeted by a mesmerizing Odissi performance by a leading exponent Geeta Mahalik during an event organized by Spic Macay on January 31, 2012 in the auditorium of St. Stephen's School, Chandigarh. Spic Macy aims at creating awareness amongst the youth about our cultural heritage. She explained the finer points of the classical dance form before giving a presentation. She explained that the Odissi Dance is almost 2000 years old and its history and origin can be traced back as a secular dance which was later on attached to the temples. It started with the rituals of Sri, Jagannath Temple of Puri. Devdasi's sang and performed in the temple signifying deep religious worship. The themes are usually based on Lord Krishna who is associated with Lord Jagannath. Odissi art form centers on spirituality and devotion of artists to gods.

Initiating the performance with the 'Namaskaram' to Lord Jagannath, symbolic of all the gurus and the audience, she went on to perform beautiful dance movements. The 'tribhang' divides the body into three elements - head, bust and torso. Hence while dancing, her sculptural positions had her body weight on one foot and gave a typical feature of creating the eternal 'S' pattern. While Geeta Mahalik was giving a fluid motion to her dance, it created an illusion as if the sculpture is coming to life. Each mudra, which means a 'stamp', had its own meaning and connotation which took the story of Lord Krishna forward. She captivated the audience and held them spell bound with her intense footwork, facial expressions and mudras.

Sheetal Fernandez,
B.K.Cheema