An ode to Odissi
They arrived armed with cherubic smiles on heavily done up faces and costumes that aimed to mimic the styles and fashion of ancient South Asia. They took their places on stage and with the light shifting reflections on their faces, they showed different positions employed in Odissi —the most ancient of classical dance forms.

While a multimedia presentation gave the names and explained the concepts and histories behind each position, the little dancers, all of them students of Sadia Khan, alternated their hands, expressions and bodies to conform to the position being explained. For example, during the Khumba Baitha (meditative position), they would sit with knees bent, bakc perfectly straight and hands on either sides of their knees in a perfect ancient meditative position. Sadia Khan, who has been a student and teacher of Odissi for over a decade, recently hosted a complete Odissi performance at the Finance and Trade Centre (FTC). She has previously remained a student of our very own Sheema Kirmani and left for Delhi in 2000 to further her knowledge and skill in this art form under the patronage of Srimati Madhavi Mudgal and graduated from the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya with a first division in Odissi. She is currently teaching classical dance and theatre at The National Academy of Performing Arts and The Centre for Advanced Studies.

Following the multimedia performance came a recital titled Mangalacharan, a tradiitonal introductory piece performed in Odissi. Sadia's little students came equipped with flowers paid their respects to the gods, gurus and the audience. The dance was simple but what was amusing to note that the little dancers tried very hard to maintain their balance during one of the more difficult standing positions.

Sadia’s entry on stage as a dancer came with a composition titled Jagannatha Ashtakam. She entered coyly form one of the white screens from the left side of the stage which depicted her silhouette clearly.the lighting became brighter with her appearance from behind the screen and she carried flowers in her hand. The sound of the bells from her ghungro resonated clearly in the auditorium. What followed were a series of dance postures that had previously been explained coupled with expressions depicting the mood of the composition being put together and performed as a dance. This was by far entertaining at first; however, too much of it, as it came in the following compositions made it somewhat monotonous. A composition which did stand out was the Madahave Ma Kuru. It was based on a twelfth century poem titled “The Gita Govinda” by Jayadeva. Translated verses from the poem in English appeared on the screen before it was performed and Sadia came on stage to explain what it was about. using a series of hand movements, no doubt employed while performing an Odissi dance, to explain the story of Radha and Krishna and their little love-tussle regarding Krishna’s unfaithful behaviour towards Radha and how her friend tries to help her overcome her feelings of anger and hurt.

The way Sadia elaborated on the poem by cleverly using her hands to depict the moon, the lotuses and how the friend tries to convince Radha to go back to Krishna was much more interesting to watch then the dance itself. The absence of other dances to fill in the roles of Krishna and Radha’s friend was sorely felt and I had to use my imagination as to what must have been going on around Radha while Sadia pranced about on stage playing the her role. The final dance sequence was about the dancer merding in with the dance. The dance was full of energy, which made it slightly better then the ones preceeding it.

One must keep in mind that Odissi is not exactly a very popular classical dance genre in Pakistan and to understand it better, an understanding of the culture and the mythology behind most of the dances is required. even though the evening started off well and was a welcome change from the regular Kathak or Bharatnatyam dance recitals that are somewhat the norm, one felt the evening had dragged a tad longer then it should have. Hopefully, with time, Odissi will grow on all of us enough for us to appreciate it as much as we do the other classical dance forms.

Credits: Photos by Amean J.

First Published:
Images
November 5th, 2006