Odissi Indian Classical Dance

Odissi is a classical Indian Temple Dance with roots dating back over 2,000 years. It originates from the Jagganath temple tradition in Orissa and is one of the 9 classical dances of India. Odissi is known for its soft, flowing movements, emphasized torso isolations, and rapid foot work- symbolizing the alchemy of the Divine Feminine and Masculine at play within the form. Its unique style is meant to express love and passion towards the Divine, as often portrayed within the stories of Radha and Krishna. It is a dance that exemplifies “bhakti”- a deep and personal relationship between God and the human self, and the longing for the individual soul to merge back into the Absolute. Odissi is the embodiment of a devotional and yogic philosophy of art/movement as a path to Mokshya (liberation). It expresses this through performance of a devotional poem, spiritual message; and/or ancient story derived from Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, emotional expressions, and mudras that are codified within ancient Sanskrit literature.

Kalidasi is a student within the Kelucharan Mohapatra lineage of Odissi. Since 2011, she has studied primarily with Colleena Shakti and Sudhansu Pohan at the Shakti School of Dance, located in the Old Rang Nath Temple in Pushkar, Rajasthan India. In the summers, she trains at the Shakti Summer School on the island of Crete. In 2012 she had the honor of performing Odissi at the Pushkar Temple Dance Festival, in Pushkar India, and has continued to perform and teach both locally and intenationally. Odissi is a vast and humbling  world within itself, and Kalidasi has dedicated her life to the study of it and to share the joys of this extraordinary art form with her students.