Bodies Filled with Divine Energy: The Indian Dance Odissi

Abstract

Abstract This article is based on interviews made with gurus and dancers in Orissa, East India. The Odissi, a “classical” dance which stands at the centre of attention here, is a mixture of centuries-old traditions and relatively new influences, or even “inventions“. By discussing the dance′s history, its aesthetic qualities and, most importantly, the emic points of view of contemporary practitioners of the dance, it is shown that today′s Odissi is based on ideas and practices that stem as much from old Sanskrit writings and late-medieval temple practices as they do from the contemporary realms of popular Hinduism and tribal religion and art. For its practitioners, the dance represents a form of devotion to Jagannath, and Odisssi is thus understood as a “spiritual dance” through which a relationship between the god and his adherents is established or performed. While the attitude exhibited by dancers and audience alike is one of spirituality and bhakti, this spirituality and loving surrender can only be achieved through the bodily practice of the dance, which turns the presence of the deity into a somatic experience in which all the bodily senses are involved.