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Dance of Orissa |
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| Orissa has a glorious tradition of music. The
figures or dancers musicians Carved on ancient
temple walls speak of Orissa's rich musical
heritage. There were saint-poets of Orissa who
composed lyrical poems to be sung. Bards
usually went from place to place singing these
songs which were meant to propagate religious
ideas in various religious. instructions were
usually given by the poet himself as to how
the lyric was to be sung, i.e. the raga or
tune to be employed and the tala or beat
scheme to be followed. By the 11th Century AD
folk music or Orissa existing in the form of
Triswari, Chatuhswari, and Panchaswari was
modified into the classical style. |
Odissi Dance
Odissi dance is the typical
classical dance form of Orissa and has its
origin in the temples. The rhythm, the bhangis
and mudras used in Odissi dance have a
distinctive quality of their own. Odissi dance
deals largely with the love theme of Radha and
Krishna. It is a lyrical form of dance with
its subtelety as its keynote. The intimate
relationship experienced between the poetry
and music in Odissi is a feature on which the
aesthetics of the style is built. Odissi bases
itself on a wealth of systematized techniques
which make this dance aesthetically appealing
and visually delightful. It is a "sculpturesque"
style of dance with a harmony of line and
movement, all its own. What is interesting
about Odissi is that body position is not
merely a part of the vocabulary or frame-work.
The posture by itself conveys a particular
mood or message. The names of these postures
too express the moods they represent. The
different items of the Odissi dance style are
Managlacharna, Batunrya or Sthayi Nata,
Pallavi, Abhinaya and Moksha. In
mangalacharana the dancer dedicates herself to
the Lord and begs forgiveness of the Mother
Earth for stamping her feet upon her; she
apologises to her audience for any
shortcomings and offers salutations to the
Guru. Batu Nrytya is pure dance. It begins
with a series of sculpturesque poses
symbolising the playing of the veena, drum,
flute or cymbals. Pallivi is extremely
graceful and lyrical. The tune is in some raga
and is sung to the accompaniment of Sargam and
Bols. Through facial expressions abhinaya
depicts rasa and bhava to bring out the
meaning and mood of songs. Generally the songs
written by poets, Banamali, Upendra Bhanja,
Baladeva Rath, Gopala and Jayadeva are sung.
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Chhau Dance
Chhau is an ancient dance form. It
originated in the mock fights of the Oriya
paikas (warriors) who fought rhythmically to
the accompaniment of indigenous music
instruments The highly Stylised Chhau dance of
today follow the basic principle of the Natya
Shastra of Bharat Muni and the Abhinaya
Darpana of Nandikeswara. This dance form
became closely associated with religion. The
Chhau dancers worship Lord Shiva and Goddess
Parvati, the two presiding deities of the
Tandava and the Lasya styles respectively. The
typical Chhau dance pose when the dancer at
rest is the bent knee so that the legs form a
Square, the raising of the, right hand upward
with the left hand handing downward both
forming right angles the elbow. The Chhau
dancers have to practices difficult modes of
walk-in, striking difficult postures and
moving in a way peculiar to this style. It is
a virile dance form and was in the past
undertaken by male dancers who performed in
female roles, as and when required. Today
there are also female dancers who have master
this art. The face is generally covered with
.the mask of the character who being depicted
by the dancer in the Saraikala School of Chhau
dance. But in the Mayurbhanj school, the face
is left uncovered: Emotions and passions are
not depicted by facial expression but by
intricate footwork, whirls and jumps. Hence,
the wait the feet and the legs are used to
depict bhavas. The dance is usually performed
in the open air on a raised platform, the
musicians stand, on one side of the platform
and play on big kettle drums and other musical
instruments. In villages, Chhau dance is
usually performed during Chaitra parva
festival in the days concluding the month of
Chaitra. Popular story from the Ramavyna and
Mahabharata are staged. The costumes, the
headgear and other ornamental requisites are
carefully selected., The dance programme
consists of solo, duet or Group, performances.
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Mahari Dance
Mahari Tradition of the Sri Mandira
is the beautiful Parijata flower of art an
history of Utkal. It also makes living by its
fragrance and the touch of nationl. It has
been doing so far from the time immoral. It
has made the art of Utkala glorious Mahari
tradition is the same and one union of Lord
Jagannath and great Nari Mahari. Mahari Dance
coming from the Nata temple of the temple has
reached and extended to the stage and
shastriya Odissi dance art. Now a days common
man having seen the round eye of Lord
Jagannath l has become wholeness of Karatali
under this remains purity action whollyness of
Mahari. It is a prensial emotion of life and
heart and sloving. Amongst all who made this
mahari dance living and has given to the
people in general for publicity and its pride
Guru Pankaja Charana Das comes to the foremast
rank. He has made the dream 'fruitful' . This
Mahari awarded is opened for all who take it
as a tradition witrh whole heartedness. Now
Odissi has climbed the pick lof culture
everelst of the world but the proponents of
this art , that is the Mahari are numbered and
along with them will go this age old tradition
of Orissa. We all specially the Oriyas should
not forget the contributions made by this
great lordies.
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Tribal Dance
The Tribals who constitute about one fourth of
the total population of Orissa have very many
dances of secular, religious and seasonal in
character. Living in the midst of nature their
dances and songs are vivid, temperamental and
attuned to nature herself. Nature is always
the strongest inspiration for them, coupled
with the customs and religious heritage.
The colourful spring time dance of the 'Santals'
with their musical instrument, 'Madal'
performed by the maidens, their pastoral dance
during ripening of grain, the dance of the 'Kolha'
at the time of planting of the seeds in honour
of their deity is performed by men and women.
The dances of the Gonds done in dedication to
their deity 'Bhimsen' at harvesting festival
time, marriage celebrations accompanied by
several musical instruments like the
horned-drums, flutes and many clarions.
The spring dance of the 'Bhattara' with
beautiful dresses, silver ornaments of women,
flushed as they move and the colourful turbans
of the men stuck with peacock feathers. The 'Sua'
dance of the Sambalpur tribes performed by the
young girls in the spirit of adventure and
romance accompanied by drummers and musicians.
The ring dance of the 'Oron' performed during
all festivals and in the spring and autumn
seasons in a circle. The women dancers placing
their arms at the back of their neighbours and
clasping the hands of the next, the courtship
dances of 'Ho'. The 'Jhadia Paraja' dance
exhibiting graceful movement and artistic
skill, the colourful dance of the 'Gadaba',
the dance of the 'Koya's with the headdress of
Bison horn. Women dressed in colourful attires
with iron sticks in hands making a jingling
sound in accompaniment of musical instruments.
The dance of the 'Kutal Kandha' with the
single stringed 'Dungadunga', the peacock,
sparrow, vulture, deer dances of 'Juang' to
the tune of their musical instrument, 'Changu'
and 'Badakatha', and a wide variety of dances
clearly give an idea how the culture of the
tribals born out of nature and attuned to
nature can live and flourish spontaneously.
These are just a few representative examples
of the tribal dances of Orissa. The tribal
dance itself is vast in variety indicating
their importance in the social and religious
life of the people. |
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