DAN 246 - Odissi Dance Technique I

This Odissi technique course is a contemporary take on the ancient, eastern Indian dance form, Odissi. The training creates this extraordinary, venerable body through spinal torsion, quad and gluteal strength and expressiveness. The class will cover the basic technique of Odissi dance-strong, stamping footwork, the sinuous torso, expressive gaze and story-telling hand gestures. Historically, the training and embodiment of Odissi invited the participation of male and female identifying bodies in India to create what Dance scholar Anurima Bannerji calls extraordinary gender: “a category of gender which was traditionally minoritarian…[though] not marginalized but venerated [and] existed as a legitimate space of difference and honor within dominant cultural logics” (Dancing Odissi, p119). The politics of this form is embedded in its fluidity of the feminine and the masculine, the ancient and the modern, and the active and the passive.

This is primarily a movement-based dance class. Students will learn to move in “extraordinary” ways while remaining dynamic, powerful and activated. Students will engage deeply in some readings about the form’s history, alongside documentary and performance video and audio material.

Satisfies Dance minor requirement.
Satisfies Gender and Sexuality Studies major and minor requirement.
Satisfies South Asian Studies minor requirement.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity requirement.
Satisfies the Visual and Performing Arts requirement.