Popular in Arts and Humanities

Arts and Humanities

Titus Quinctius Flamininus’ “Italian triumph”

McGill University Michael Fronda

Arts and Humanities

Lincoln and the Jews

Brandeis University Jonathan Sarna

Arts and Humanities

Amputations and Convalescence

University of Western Australia Emily Brink

Art

Drawing on the past: Palladio, his precursors and knowledge of ancient architecture

University of Birmingham David Hemsoll

Art

Language, Sound, and Image in Wallace Berman’s Aleph, 1956–1966

University of San Diego Chelsea Behle Fralick

Arts and Humanities

Early Modern Natural Law Theories

University of Copenhagen Knud Haakonssen

Dancing Odissi: Paratopic Performances of Gender and State

View more insights in Arts and Humanities - Art - Dance

View more figures from University of California Los Angeles

View the page of Anurima Banerji

Read the Study

Anurima Banerji explores how dance shifts from regional art to global spectacle, highlighting state regulation and gender performance.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 4, 2024

Generating Workspace

Export as PDF

This video video discusses Ori, a classical dance form from the Indian state of Odisha, which gained recognition from the Indian government around 1960. Ori is a blend of various artistic traditions, including the Mahari dance, UA technique, modern Oriya theater, and stylized everyday movements. The dance showcases a complex combination of choreography and performance influenced by ancient texts like the Natyashastra and the region's artistic heritage.

Throughout the mid-20th century, efforts were made to reconstruct and develop Ori as part of India's cultural renaissance post-independence. The dance is characterized by signature positions that create an "S-curve" in the body and emphasizes both lyrical and rhythmic patterns. Additionally, Ori includes storytelling elements and maintains a continuous flow of movement.

The author's motivation for researching Ori stemmed from a personal inquiry into its intricate histories and narratives, further driven by formal training under respected Gurus. The research reveals that Ori's roots may trace back to ancient dances like Ra Magdi, and it contests the notion that classical Indian dances solely serve religious purposes, highlighting multiple religious and secular influences.

The author notes that throughout history, dance in Odisha has had political significance, reflecting relationships between the state and the art form. The Mahari tradition and its transformation over time demonstrate the interplay between dance, power, and cultural identity. The book aims to illustrate the complex interplay of dance and politics and encourage a broader understanding of Ori as both an aesthetic and politically significant form, revealing its historical narratives and aesthetic possibilities.

Language:

Export as PDF

Export as PDF
Here are some suggested similar articles that align with the themes of your video about the Ori dance form from Odisha:

1. **The Evolution of Odissi Dance: Tradition and Transformation**
This article explores the history and development of Odissi, another classical dance form from Odisha, highlighting its cultural significance, its connection to temple traditions, and modern adaptations.

2. **Classical Indian Dance: A Historical Overview**
This piece examines various classical dance forms of India, including Bharatanatyam, Kathak, and Odissi, discussing how each has evolved over the decades in response to societal changes and artistic innovations.

3. **The Role of Dance in Indian Political History**
An exploration of how different dance forms in India, like Bharatnatyam and Kathak, have played roles in socio-political movements and served as expressions of cultural identity and nationalism.

4. **Mahari Dance Tradition: Sacred and Secular Dialogues**
This article delves into the Mahari dance, its historical convideo, transformation, and how it reflects both sacred traditions and contemporary expressions in Odisha.

5. **Reconstructing Tradition: The Revival of Classical Dance Forms in Post-Independence India**
An in-depth look at the revival efforts for various classical Indian dance forms, including Ori, with a focus on the political and cultural motivations behind these movements in the post-colonial era.

6. **The Natyashastra and Its Influence on Indian Dance**
This scholarly article discusses how the ancient video Natyashastra serves as a foundational source for many Indian dance forms, including Ori and Odissi, and its impact on contemporary choreography and performance practices.

7. **Gender and Dance in Odisha: Negotiating Identity through Movement**
This paper investigates how traditional dance forms, including Ori, express and negotiate the gender dynamics within Odishan culture, examining the roles of male and female dancers.

8. **Storytelling Through Dance: The Narrative Dimensions of Ori and Other Classical Forms**
An examination of how various classical Indian dance forms, including Ori, incorporate storytelling elements, connecting movement with narrative, and analyzing their impact on cultural preservation.

Each of these articles would provide additional insights into the cultural, historical, and aesthetic dimensions of dance forms similar to Ori.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.065 --> 00:01.885
Or see is one of the eight dance forms

00:02.035 --> 00:04.685
that are currently recognized as classical

00:05.305 --> 00:06.685
by the Indian government.

00:07.345 --> 00:11.525
It achieved this recognition in around 1960.

00:12.465 --> 00:13.645
So or see is a form

00:13.645 --> 00:16.925
that developed in the Eastern Indian state of Orisha,

00:17.705 --> 00:20.805
and it's an amalgam of four different art forms.

00:21.745 --> 00:22.845
The Mahari dance,

00:22.855 --> 00:27.445
which is a female ritual specialist tradition, enshrined

00:27.445 --> 00:31.565
around the 11th century in the region in the Hindu temples,

00:32.345 --> 00:36.565
the UA technique, which is a tradition of young boys

00:37.085 --> 00:41.965
embodying the female mythological figure, Radha on stage.

00:42.225 --> 00:45.325
And this is a practice associated with

00:46.255 --> 00:48.525
Bhati religious movements.

00:49.305 --> 00:54.165
And bhati was a form of direct devotion that was preached

00:54.165 --> 00:55.365
by the saints

00:55.465 --> 00:58.005
and figures associated with the movement as opposed

00:58.025 --> 00:59.405
to having to go to the temple

00:59.585 --> 01:02.005
to have a mediated relationship with the divine.

01:03.305 --> 01:06.165
The third influence is the modern Oria theater, which

01:06.835 --> 01:08.525
took shape in the 1930s.

01:09.705 --> 01:13.765
And the fourth real source is stylized tavian

01:14.085 --> 01:15.125
everyday movements.

01:16.185 --> 01:18.165
So the main movement principles

01:18.225 --> 01:21.605
and figurations in Nordic also draw on the choreographic

01:21.815 --> 01:23.765
codes listed in the Naati Shara,

01:24.175 --> 01:26.485
which is an ancient treaties on performance

01:27.065 --> 01:28.205
and the visual art

01:28.225 --> 01:30.765
and sculptural heritage of the Orisha region.

01:31.545 --> 01:35.525
But all of these influences were folded into the form

01:36.265 --> 01:37.845
in the mid 20th century.

01:38.315 --> 01:41.245
It's not that there's an unbroken lineage from an ancient

01:41.245 --> 01:43.325
period into the present,

01:44.225 --> 01:47.525
but the form was actively developed as part

01:47.585 --> 01:51.845
of India's cultural reconstruction efforts in the

01:52.405 --> 01:55.085
1950s when India, right

01:55.085 --> 01:57.765
after India achieved independence in 1947.

01:58.865 --> 02:03.125
So while it goes to ancient sources, it's an active

02:03.635 --> 02:08.525
conscious effort to create a form in order to ize it.

02:09.385 --> 02:13.925
So the dance itself is marked by four signature positions,

02:13.925 --> 02:16.765
which are both linear and curve linear.

02:17.465 --> 02:20.645
The sum of hunger is a simple standing position.

02:21.385 --> 02:24.285
The ab hunger is an asymmetrical stance.

02:25.065 --> 02:26.445
Um, choke is a position

02:26.445 --> 02:28.845
where the arms are bent at the elbows

02:28.985 --> 02:31.045
and then the knees are turned out,

02:31.785 --> 02:33.685
and so it's a sitting position.

02:34.505 --> 02:39.205
And three hung also is, a turned out position

02:39.275 --> 02:42.525
with, with the knees, on either side

02:42.675 --> 02:44.205
with one foot in front of the other.

02:44.505 --> 02:48.325
But this creates a three bends in the body

02:49.255 --> 02:51.595
at the knee, the torso and the neck.

02:51.775 --> 02:54.555
And this creates what we call an s-curve

02:55.135 --> 02:56.515
for the body in the form.

02:57.575 --> 02:58.835
Ori also divides the body

02:59.035 --> 03:01.845
Into upper and lower spheres at the navel.

03:02.705 --> 03:06.925
And then the transversal torso movement is a distinction

03:07.585 --> 03:11.565
of the form and the dance incorporates both lyrical

03:11.705 --> 03:13.205
and rhythmic patterns,

03:13.905 --> 03:16.685
and it includes abstract formalist

03:17.765 --> 03:20.725
elements alongside storytelling components.

03:21.505 --> 03:23.765
And energetically as a dance,

03:24.025 --> 03:27.445
it represents a continuous flow, meaning

03:27.515 --> 03:31.125
that the upper body in specific is always in motion.

03:31.705 --> 03:33.285
And there's some moments of arrest

03:33.915 --> 03:35.765
that punctuate the phrasing.

03:36.905 --> 03:38.565
In terms of the book, there were multiple

03:38.565 --> 03:39.965
motivations for writing it.

03:40.105 --> 03:44.085
The first that it was a personal inquiry into an immensely

03:44.085 --> 03:46.845
intricate dance form that intertwined

03:46.845 --> 03:48.445
so many fascinating histories.

03:49.025 --> 03:51.405
And this was the reality I came to understand initially

03:51.405 --> 03:53.885
as a student in training,

03:54.945 --> 03:58.805
and it was the practice then that opened up many vistas

03:58.805 --> 04:02.445
for historical exploration aesthetic as well as political.

04:03.125 --> 04:04.565
I was curious about the form

04:04.785 --> 04:07.125
and the narratives that had been passed down to me

04:08.195 --> 04:11.405
from the gurus that I worked with who really took care

04:11.405 --> 04:14.445
to stitch together the stories about the origins

04:14.445 --> 04:15.805
and purposes of the dance.

04:15.835 --> 04:19.365
When I studied with them, I first started learning the form

04:19.425 --> 04:22.485
as a child with guru Tia in Delhi,

04:22.505 --> 04:26.245
and later did advanced training with Guru Moji

04:26.245 --> 04:29.125
who taught at Binti University in K Kata.

04:29.585 --> 04:31.765
And a trip I took with his family

04:31.905 --> 04:36.765
to Orisha really spurred my curiosity about the practice.

04:37.025 --> 04:41.005
As I learned, it was framed as the oldest classical dance.

04:41.785 --> 04:43.365
And so I wanted to learn more

04:43.625 --> 04:46.285
and engage with a history directly

04:46.425 --> 04:50.445
and pursue doctoral studies so that I could deeply study it,

04:50.705 --> 04:54.325
and then later kept pursuing further inquiry.

04:54.425 --> 04:58.045
As, as an academic, many scholars have claimed

04:58.395 --> 04:59.485
that the roots of

04:59.505 --> 05:02.525
or Siegel back to a dance called Ra Magdi,

05:02.575 --> 05:06.485
which is mentioned in the Nachi Shara, which is dated to

05:06.485 --> 05:10.205
between the second century be BCE

05:10.785 --> 05:12.845
to the second century ce.

05:13.065 --> 05:14.645
In fact. So

05:15.725 --> 05:20.045
because of its mention in this compendium is said

05:20.045 --> 05:22.885
to have been prevalent in that ancient period

05:22.985 --> 05:24.405
and possibly prior to it.

05:25.145 --> 05:26.885
In my research, I found evidence

05:27.145 --> 05:30.045
of dance in the Oresa region through literary

05:30.045 --> 05:31.245
and epigraphic sources,

05:32.345 --> 05:35.165
but a standing myth connected to Ori,

05:35.165 --> 05:39.285
and in fact many of the classic size Indian dances is

05:39.285 --> 05:41.125
that they're imbued with religiosity,

05:41.125 --> 05:42.725
especially Hindu religiosity,

05:43.225 --> 05:45.485
and that they have purely devotional aims.

05:46.625 --> 05:50.285
My research contested that monolithic reading

05:50.755 --> 05:53.805
because religion is a key influence,

05:53.865 --> 05:55.925
but not the only influence on the dances.

05:56.565 --> 05:58.325
I found that historically dance

05:58.345 --> 06:02.725
and Orissa had multiple religious influences from Buddhism

06:02.905 --> 06:07.605
to Islam to Christianity, to various animist

06:07.945 --> 06:09.565
and, tribal traditions.

06:10.345 --> 06:13.885
And it also had a secular or worldly identity.

06:14.145 --> 06:18.005
And it was associated very much with a political function

06:18.395 --> 06:22.125
because the royal figures who supported the form through

06:22.745 --> 06:26.325
its many stages over time, through its developments

06:26.585 --> 06:29.725
and its identity as these other discreet forms

06:30.585 --> 06:34.485
in different historical, moments, they saw the dance

06:34.505 --> 06:36.725
as a mode of expressing their power.

06:37.075 --> 06:39.445
They saw dance as a way to cultivate relations

06:39.445 --> 06:42.885
with their subjects to seal their prestige

06:43.065 --> 06:46.445
and indicate their beneficence as well

06:46.445 --> 06:48.485
as signal their elite cultural position.

06:49.515 --> 06:53.965
Also, in the ancient period, dance operated in the region

06:54.225 --> 06:56.005
as the mode of moral instruction,

06:56.545 --> 07:00.325
as the society was stratified on the basis of caste class

07:00.545 --> 07:03.085
and gender among other dynamics,

07:03.875 --> 07:06.965
knowledge was really the purview of social elites.

07:07.455 --> 07:11.765
Dance was used as a way of conveying the value systems

07:12.865 --> 07:17.005
of the privileged to the masses now,

07:17.065 --> 07:19.485
and the dominant narrative of the dance holds

07:19.485 --> 07:22.805
that ODC was a Hindu dance that ended up being a fallen form

07:22.945 --> 07:25.085
as a result of Muslim rule

07:25.145 --> 07:27.765
and political intervention in the region starting in the

07:27.765 --> 07:31.525
15th century, I did not find that to be the case.

07:31.845 --> 07:35.605
I found that view to be in fact indicative

07:36.425 --> 07:39.925
of a do mode of historiography that

07:40.505 --> 07:41.525
has a Hindu bias

07:42.425 --> 07:44.605
and also seeks to

07:45.605 --> 07:50.245
alienate Muslim subjects from an Indian identification.

07:51.345 --> 07:55.805
So I actually found that the GPU tradition in fact,

07:55.865 --> 07:58.645
became institutionalized under Maal rule,

07:59.145 --> 08:00.725
and that the Mahari tradition,

08:00.735 --> 08:03.445
which was allegedly displaced according to

08:04.145 --> 08:07.845
the conventional narrative, actually continued

08:08.395 --> 08:10.325
into the period of British colonialism

08:10.665 --> 08:13.965
and in the post-colonial era for a brief time.

08:14.865 --> 08:18.525
So it was really in the era of colonial modernity that

08:19.075 --> 08:21.685
many dance forms were targeted by colonial

08:21.825 --> 08:24.485
and native activists and officials,

08:25.565 --> 08:29.285
and discouraged as a tradition in Orissa in the 1960s

08:29.835 --> 08:31.165
because of a general

08:31.865 --> 08:36.605
and problematic association of various kinds

08:36.665 --> 08:40.125
of dance traditions, especially those performed by

08:40.895 --> 08:44.245
women dancers, as

08:45.275 --> 08:48.945
associated with prostitution sex work

08:49.805 --> 08:51.305
and concubine edge.

08:52.085 --> 08:55.065
And there were complex social

08:55.805 --> 08:58.645
attitudes towards these practices as a result.

08:59.465 --> 09:01.645
And the mahari tradition, for instance,

09:01.715 --> 09:03.565
then became deinstitutionalized

09:04.065 --> 09:08.405
and is no longer in service at the juggernaut pur temple

09:08.495 --> 09:11.085
where it was a tradition for a thousand years.

09:12.505 --> 09:14.725
So the book was really designed

09:14.725 --> 09:17.405
to examine the key historical breaks

09:17.585 --> 09:22.365
and shifts in Odic C'S trajectory, what led to its making

09:22.945 --> 09:25.365
in the 1950s through

09:25.705 --> 09:29.605
and intertwining of the various practices

09:30.145 --> 09:31.845
and textual

09:32.145 --> 09:35.325
and artistic sources that I mentioned previously.

09:36.265 --> 09:38.725
And I conducted interdisciplinary research

09:38.945 --> 09:43.605
by doing extensive archival research,

09:44.225 --> 09:45.925
ethnographic field work

09:46.105 --> 09:48.845
and studying the literary artistic

09:49.025 --> 09:52.405
and material culture linked to ODC dance,

09:53.015 --> 09:55.005
especially studying the temples

09:55.145 --> 09:58.085
and the archeological monuments associated with it.

09:58.745 --> 10:00.845
And of course, I watched performances.

10:00.965 --> 10:02.485
I took part in dance classes

10:02.665 --> 10:04.205
and workshops in order

10:04.225 --> 10:07.485
to better inhabit the different styles that compose

10:07.545 --> 10:11.965
or DC today and interviewing many of the practitioners,

10:12.075 --> 10:13.885
both dance teachers, students,

10:14.945 --> 10:17.485
and well-known exponents of the form.

10:17.875 --> 10:22.605
When I began the research, I noticed that ODC,

10:22.625 --> 10:24.965
as I said, was framed as the oldest classical form,

10:24.965 --> 10:27.005
and this was on the basis of the mention

10:28.065 --> 10:32.445
of apparently the root form of the ti in the n as well

10:32.445 --> 10:34.085
as a series of dance release

10:34.675 --> 10:39.365
that appeared at a site called the Rani Caves,

10:39.655 --> 10:43.765
which is just outside the city of Bernet in Orisha.

10:44.945 --> 10:46.845
And I went to that site

10:47.825 --> 10:50.245
and I realized that the reliefs

10:51.155 --> 10:53.645
that are allegedly depicting the dance

10:54.795 --> 10:57.485
show dance occurring in pastoral spaces,

10:58.615 --> 11:00.405
dance occurring in courts,

11:00.405 --> 11:02.765
dance occurring in social situations.

11:03.345 --> 11:08.285
And so that was my first hint, my first research clue

11:08.915 --> 11:11.165
that dance didn't exist only

11:11.465 --> 11:15.575
as a temple ritual historically.

11:15.995 --> 11:19.015
And in fact, I later found out that temples

11:19.515 --> 11:24.055
as structures only originated around the fifth century

11:24.055 --> 11:27.455
because that's when they started to build stone edifices.

11:27.505 --> 11:32.295
Prior to this time, there wasn't a whole culture of

11:32.875 --> 11:35.935
temple building in the way that we understand it today.

11:36.715 --> 11:40.055
And so this also opened up the possibility for thinking

11:40.055 --> 11:43.375
through the various kinds of relationship that dance had

11:43.375 --> 11:46.655
to the society and more specifically in relation

11:46.655 --> 11:50.495
to the state because there are some epic graphs

11:51.395 --> 11:55.845
at the site at the U caves, which,

11:56.175 --> 11:58.045
holds the ran caves.

11:58.275 --> 12:01.605
There's also an inscription there from the king

12:02.345 --> 12:06.645
who was a gen king in the first century, BCE,

12:07.185 --> 12:10.805
who mentioned that he sponsored dance in order to

12:11.715 --> 12:13.405
give pleasure to his subjects

12:13.505 --> 12:15.885
and to again indicate his position

12:16.665 --> 12:19.765
as a culturally sophisticated person.

12:20.905 --> 12:23.325
And what I realized at this time is

12:23.325 --> 12:26.365
that dance wasn't only fulfilling a ritual function,

12:26.365 --> 12:28.165
it was fulfilling a political function.

12:29.025 --> 12:31.845
So it was from that time that I started to trace

12:32.845 --> 12:34.565
Rd C's trajectory,

12:35.145 --> 12:37.685
or at least the antecedents of Rd c,

12:38.155 --> 12:39.565
what we call Rd C today,

12:40.545 --> 12:42.725
how those antecedents developed in

12:42.725 --> 12:43.765
relationship to the state.

12:44.385 --> 12:45.805
So at that time, dance

12:45.825 --> 12:49.405
and ora was very much tied to the political function

12:49.705 --> 12:50.885
of the monarchy.

12:51.505 --> 12:54.485
And later I also found out that the mahari rituals,

12:54.535 --> 12:59.485
which were established around the 11th century in Oria

13:00.035 --> 13:03.485
were also cultivated by the royal regimes.

13:04.265 --> 13:06.525
And so this was very interesting

13:06.525 --> 13:07.845
because it showed me

13:07.845 --> 13:11.845
that there was an inordinate interest in dance on behalf

13:11.845 --> 13:15.645
of state agents, and it led me to question why,

13:15.745 --> 13:19.085
why was there this special relationship between dance

13:19.865 --> 13:23.365
and the state at different historical moments?

13:24.505 --> 13:27.885
So what I found out is that dance operated

13:28.545 --> 13:30.605
as a significant form for the state,

13:30.605 --> 13:32.965
whether it was being targeted in negative terms

13:33.505 --> 13:35.405
or celebrated in positive terms.

13:36.145 --> 13:39.125
And this was true of the pre-colonial period,

13:39.225 --> 13:43.685
the colonial period, what is referred to often as

13:44.585 --> 13:47.085
the mogul period of history.

13:47.745 --> 13:51.085
Um, and what we see repeatedly is this assertion

13:51.505 --> 13:54.565
by the state that dance is an important social activity.

13:56.555 --> 14:00.655
And so what I see over time is that it developed really

14:00.675 --> 14:03.615
as a local stage form

14:04.515 --> 14:09.175
and then it became institutionalized as a temple tradition.

14:10.115 --> 14:12.695
It also existed as

14:14.185 --> 14:19.105
a street form or as part of the PTI religious movement

14:19.855 --> 14:23.385
because that's when the UA form when it came into being,

14:23.605 --> 14:28.025
it was trying to ize on behalf of the bakhti movement

14:28.025 --> 14:31.025
to attract proponents outside of the dominant

14:31.705 --> 14:33.105
orthodox religious sphere.

14:34.165 --> 14:37.865
And you see a whole range of ways in which

14:38.565 --> 14:41.425
the state is mobilizing a relationship

14:41.485 --> 14:44.065
to dance again in order to create a relationship

14:44.095 --> 14:45.105
with its subjects.

14:45.765 --> 14:50.145
And in order to assert the extraordinary power

14:51.105 --> 14:52.205
Of the royalty.

14:53.145 --> 14:57.565
And this is why I think in art science specific,

14:58.375 --> 15:01.925
there was a constant relationship between dance

15:02.505 --> 15:06.925
and the state because art was not simply,

15:08.185 --> 15:10.605
a woven into the social fabric.

15:10.785 --> 15:14.125
It was seen as a highly politicized activity.

15:15.385 --> 15:18.645
And over time it kept being mobilized by the state.

15:18.705 --> 15:23.405
The colonial regime also saw dance as an activity it wanted

15:23.405 --> 15:27.285
to target when it wanted to actually marginalize or

15:27.545 --> 15:31.205
and cultural values and orian heritage practices.

15:32.345 --> 15:35.645
And later on we see that the post-colonial state

15:36.155 --> 15:40.365
also took up the regulation of dance as one

15:40.365 --> 15:42.245
of its activities.

15:42.745 --> 15:47.645
And again, it saw dance then as a sign

15:48.505 --> 15:51.845
of archaic cultural elements that had to be excised

15:51.905 --> 15:54.365
for the modern nation state to come into being.

15:55.425 --> 15:58.525
And so we see that dance operated very much

15:59.345 --> 16:03.645
in this political struggle over time, whether it was

16:04.605 --> 16:08.765
privileged by some royal authorities and state authorities,

16:08.945 --> 16:11.525
or whether it was then the attempt was made

16:11.525 --> 16:14.085
to marginalize it as well in certain moments

16:14.585 --> 16:19.365
by extraordinary genders, I wanted to create a term

16:20.115 --> 16:22.645
that would speak to the way in which

16:23.235 --> 16:28.045
non-normative gendered practices were for grounded

16:28.785 --> 16:32.685
by state authorities over time in relation

16:32.945 --> 16:35.525
to the antecedents of the ODC forum

16:36.345 --> 16:39.125
and then in the modern period linked

16:39.125 --> 16:41.565
to the ODC practice itself.

16:42.385 --> 16:45.165
So the reason I chose extraordinary genders is

16:45.165 --> 16:48.685
that often we think of non-normative gender expressions

16:49.985 --> 16:53.685
in the Western frame as queer, broadly speaking,

16:54.195 --> 16:56.965
queerness signals non normativity, both in terms

16:56.965 --> 16:58.245
of gender and sexuality.

16:59.035 --> 17:02.045
When I was doing my study, I wanted to separate the study

17:02.045 --> 17:03.285
of gender and sexuality

17:03.715 --> 17:07.405
because I actually had no insight into

17:08.265 --> 17:12.365
the very complex sexuality that was,

17:13.105 --> 17:15.565
embraced by the Mahari

17:15.565 --> 17:17.685
and ua, for example,

17:18.785 --> 17:22.765
who were the ritual performers from which,

17:22.945 --> 17:27.325
or DC draws much of its aesthetic and movement codes

17:28.305 --> 17:29.885
and of course its histories.

17:30.945 --> 17:34.605
So the extraordinary genders became a term that I could use

17:34.605 --> 17:37.005
to signal the fact that mahari

17:37.005 --> 17:41.525
and gowa in particular were extraordinary in relation

17:41.945 --> 17:45.325
to the normative valuations prescribed by society.

17:45.905 --> 17:48.165
The Mahar, for example, were

17:48.655 --> 17:51.325
Women who held the highest position

17:52.225 --> 17:56.445
in the temple order at the au Temple in Puri in Orisha.

17:57.185 --> 18:01.565
And they were female servit in that tradition.

18:02.345 --> 18:07.005
And their profession was to

18:08.105 --> 18:09.485
create dances

18:10.305 --> 18:14.085
and deliver song repertoires that

18:15.135 --> 18:18.405
would not only entertain the gods.

18:18.835 --> 18:19.925
Juna rah

18:19.945 --> 18:23.845
and balam at the Pur temple were seen as living entities.

18:24.625 --> 18:27.805
Um, and the Mahari were seen as their wives,

18:28.105 --> 18:29.245
the wives of Juna.

18:30.305 --> 18:34.645
And the Mahari also had an elevated social position

18:35.145 --> 18:37.405
in that they weren't expected to, to adhere

18:37.505 --> 18:39.245
to the norms for ordinary women.

18:39.995 --> 18:43.965
They did not have to be married to men.

18:45.075 --> 18:46.165
They did not have

18:46.165 --> 18:49.085
to participate in heteronormative reproduction.

18:49.835 --> 18:54.045
They did not have to, abide by other kinds

18:54.045 --> 18:57.085
of social codes that were prescribed for ordinary women.

18:57.085 --> 19:01.045
They had access to wealth, to income, to education,

19:01.785 --> 19:03.165
to ritual knowledge.

19:03.905 --> 19:06.245
And so they held this elevated position

19:06.825 --> 19:08.605
in the orian social structure.

19:09.425 --> 19:13.365
And that's why I named them as inhabiting this sphere

19:13.385 --> 19:15.405
of the extraordinary gender spectrum.

19:16.345 --> 19:20.005
The Go Tip was also, that was a very interesting phenomenon

19:20.655 --> 19:24.965
where the UA were young boys

19:25.705 --> 19:28.965
who were embodying the figure of Radha.

19:29.605 --> 19:33.285
Radha is a divine figure who is seen as the consort

19:33.865 --> 19:36.565
of the God Krishna, who is very much a celebrated

19:37.185 --> 19:41.885
God in Orisha as a result of the PTI tradition,

19:42.575 --> 19:46.885
which really became consolidated in Orisha

19:47.225 --> 19:50.725
around the 15th to 16th centuries.

19:51.745 --> 19:56.325
And so these young boys were said

19:56.545 --> 20:00.645
to have to embody rather on stage in order

20:00.645 --> 20:02.725
to express their devotion to Krishna.

20:03.185 --> 20:05.125
And because the child's body was seen

20:05.145 --> 20:08.805
as a malleable body in its prepubescent phase,

20:09.945 --> 20:14.045
it was ripe for inscription around gender.

20:14.745 --> 20:17.725
And the Tupu tradition also saw gender.

20:18.485 --> 20:22.205
I would argue as then a floating property that could be

20:22.955 --> 20:27.405
enacted by male or female actors.

20:28.585 --> 20:31.605
And so because female

20:32.515 --> 20:35.365
dancers were already seen as inhabiting

20:36.795 --> 20:40.275
these feminized properties according

20:40.275 --> 20:42.235
to the normative gender thinking,

20:43.185 --> 20:46.895
these young boys then would be encouraged

20:46.895 --> 20:49.625
to embody Radha to

20:50.135 --> 20:53.385
express again their devotion to Krishna.

20:53.885 --> 20:57.945
And the dancing was a way also of consolidating

20:58.415 --> 20:59.665
that devotional mood.

21:00.605 --> 21:04.065
And the dancing also was a strong form of entertainment

21:04.175 --> 21:08.505
that would then attract followers to the PTI tradition.

21:08.615 --> 21:10.945
That was part of the motivation for the develop,

21:10.965 --> 21:12.825
the development of the Go Tippo form.

21:13.965 --> 21:18.585
So these two were enactments of extraordinary gender.

21:18.935 --> 21:21.025
They resided outside the

21:21.785 --> 21:23.945
conventional gender patternings

21:23.945 --> 21:25.785
that were prescribed at the time,

21:26.765 --> 21:31.035
and they were also exhibiting a phenomenon

21:31.065 --> 21:35.675
that was actually quite widespread in the subcontinent

21:36.375 --> 21:39.035
of interrupting binary gender codes.

21:39.495 --> 21:42.955
In fact, historically throughout Indian history,

21:43.095 --> 21:45.475
we see evidence that there was at least acknowledgement

21:45.615 --> 21:46.675
of three genders.

21:47.215 --> 21:49.435
So crossing genders in performance

21:50.295 --> 21:53.715
or enacting gender norms that were outside

21:53.715 --> 21:56.315
of the conventions assigned by the social structure

21:56.385 --> 21:59.155
that was also very much tied

21:59.215 --> 22:02.475
to the performance history in the subcontinent.

22:03.215 --> 22:04.555
So we see that

22:05.295 --> 22:09.515
by naming these practices in terms of extraordinary gender,

22:10.215 --> 22:14.315
we can be very specific about how they're literally

22:14.665 --> 22:16.035
outside the ordinary,

22:16.815 --> 22:20.795
and also that they are in some way marked

22:21.695 --> 22:25.995
for special consideration in terms of their epistemologies,

22:26.295 --> 22:29.595
in terms of, in terms of the practices they engender,

22:29.735 --> 22:33.275
in terms of how they take us out of everyday life

22:33.975 --> 22:35.755
and point to other possibilities

22:36.225 --> 22:38.755
outside the standard lexicons of gender.

22:39.535 --> 22:41.915
So this is why I wanted to

22:42.555 --> 22:45.035
identify this particular phenomenon.

22:45.215 --> 22:50.155
The Protopia refers to a space of alterity that is carved

22:50.775 --> 22:51.995
out by dancing bodies,

22:52.975 --> 22:57.195
and so it generates an epistemology, which is different than

22:57.355 --> 22:59.715
that of the dominant value system.

23:00.575 --> 23:04.555
But importantly, it doesn't find its identification

23:05.535 --> 23:07.755
as a counter hegemonic expression

23:07.755 --> 23:09.435
or as a resistive expression.

23:10.255 --> 23:11.355
It may be read that way,

23:11.655 --> 23:13.755
but that doesn't mean that at its core it is.

23:14.825 --> 23:17.515
It's about a phenomenon that is generated

23:17.745 --> 23:21.835
through moving bodies to create different kinds

23:21.855 --> 23:26.195
of knowledge systems, different kinds of value systems

23:27.505 --> 23:30.195
that again, lie adjacent to the norm,

23:31.375 --> 23:36.135
but don't define their own,

23:36.135 --> 23:39.375
normative structures in relation to what is dominant.

23:40.755 --> 23:45.015
So the para atopic is a parallel ground that's carved out

23:45.825 --> 23:47.125
by dance performance

23:47.865 --> 23:50.765
and it's temporal, yet it has lasting effects.

23:51.665 --> 23:54.325
So it has both an ephemeral quality as well

23:54.325 --> 23:56.805
as a durational quality in that

23:57.665 --> 24:01.365
it creates new cultural realities,

24:01.905 --> 24:06.605
new cultural imperatives that don't necessarily interrupt

24:06.675 --> 24:07.685
that which is dominant,

24:08.385 --> 24:11.765
but certainly multiply what is possible in terms

24:11.765 --> 24:13.885
of the social reality through performance.

24:14.395 --> 24:17.325
What I hope is that they'll understand Ori

24:17.325 --> 24:19.885
as a very complex aesthetic and political form,

24:19.995 --> 24:24.365
because in popular understandings, dance is often diminished

24:25.065 --> 24:26.765
as having political significance.

24:27.195 --> 24:29.565
It's seen often in purely aesthetic terms.

24:30.585 --> 24:33.685
We don't often consider the interrelationship between art

24:33.685 --> 24:37.765
and politics and in in this class size

24:37.765 --> 24:39.085
dance space in particular.

24:39.345 --> 24:42.165
And I hope that the book reveals the interrelationship

24:42.835 --> 24:45.605
between ODC dance and the state over time

24:45.785 --> 24:49.045
and shows readers an alternative narrative that opens up

24:49.595 --> 24:53.365
both their sense of the importance of the dance practice

24:53.505 --> 24:55.285
and its choreographic potentials.

24:55.475 --> 24:58.405
Because so often the narrative about the dance

24:59.285 --> 25:01.365
determines its choreographic protocols.

25:01.745 --> 25:05.285
So by opening up the histories of the form, we also open up

25:05.865 --> 25:07.725
its aesthetic possibilities.

00:00 - Or see is one of the eight dance forms that are currently recognized as classical by the Indian government. It achieved this recognition in around 1960. So or see is a form that developed in the Eastern Indian state of Orisha,

00:17 - and it's an amalgam of four different art forms. The Mahari dance, which is a female ritual specialist tradition, enshrined around the 11th century in the region in the Hindu temples, the UA technique, which is a tradition of young boys embodying the female mythological figure, Radha on stage. And this is a practice associated with Bhati religious movements. And bhati was a form of direct devotion that was preached by the saints

00:55 - and figures associated with the movement as opposed to having to go to the temple to have a mediated relationship with the divine. The third influence is the modern Oria theater, which took shape in the 1930s. And the fourth real source is stylized tavian everyday movements. So the main movement principles and figurations in Nordic also draw on the choreographic codes listed in the Naati Shara,

01:24 - which is an ancient treaties on performance and the visual art and sculptural heritage of the Orisha region. But all of these influences were folded into the form in the mid 20th century. It's not that there's an unbroken lineage from an ancient period into the present, but the form was actively developed as part of India's cultural reconstruction efforts in the 1950s when India, right

01:55 - after India achieved independence in 1947. So while it goes to ancient sources, it's an active conscious effort to create a form in order to ize it. So the dance itself is marked by four signature positions, which are both linear and curve linear. The sum of hunger is a simple standing position. The ab hunger is an asymmetrical stance. choke is a position where the arms are bent at the elbows and then the knees are turned out,

02:31 - and so it's a sitting position. And three hung also is, a turned out position with, with the knees, on either side with one foot in front of the other. But this creates a three bends in the body at the knee, the torso and the neck. And this creates what we call an s-curve for the body in the form. Ori also divides the body Into upper and lower spheres at the navel.

03:02 - And then the transversal torso movement is a distinction of the form and the dance incorporates both lyrical and rhythmic patterns, and it includes abstract formalist elements alongside storytelling components. And energetically as a dance, it represents a continuous flow, meaning that the upper body in specific is always in motion. And there's some moments of arrest that punctuate the phrasing.

03:36 - In terms of the book, there were multiple motivations for writing it. The first that it was a personal inquiry into an immensely intricate dance form that intertwined so many fascinating histories. And this was the reality I came to understand initially as a student in training, and it was the practice then that opened up many vistas for historical exploration aesthetic as well as political. I was curious about the form

04:04 - and the narratives that had been passed down to me from the gurus that I worked with who really took care to stitch together the stories about the origins and purposes of the dance. When I studied with them, I first started learning the form as a child with guru Tia in Delhi, and later did advanced training with Guru Moji who taught at Binti University in K Kata. And a trip I took with his family to Orisha really spurred my curiosity about the practice.

04:37 - As I learned, it was framed as the oldest classical dance. And so I wanted to learn more and engage with a history directly and pursue doctoral studies so that I could deeply study it, and then later kept pursuing further inquiry. As, as an academic, many scholars have claimed that the roots of or Siegel back to a dance called Ra Magdi, which is mentioned in the Nachi Shara, which is dated to between the second century be BCE

05:10 - to the second century ce. In fact. So because of its mention in this compendium is said to have been prevalent in that ancient period and possibly prior to it. In my research, I found evidence of dance in the Oresa region through literary and epigraphic sources, but a standing myth connected to Ori, and in fact many of the classic size Indian dances is

05:39 - that they're imbued with religiosity, especially Hindu religiosity, and that they have purely devotional aims. My research contested that monolithic reading because religion is a key influence, but not the only influence on the dances. I found that historically dance and Orissa had multiple religious influences from Buddhism to Islam to Christianity, to various animist and, tribal traditions.

06:10 - And it also had a secular or worldly identity. And it was associated very much with a political function because the royal figures who supported the form through its many stages over time, through its developments and its identity as these other discreet forms in different historical, moments, they saw the dance as a mode of expressing their power. They saw dance as a way to cultivate relations with their subjects to seal their prestige and indicate their beneficence as well

06:46 - as signal their elite cultural position. Also, in the ancient period, dance operated in the region as the mode of moral instruction, as the society was stratified on the basis of caste class and gender among other dynamics, knowledge was really the purview of social elites. Dance was used as a way of conveying the value systems of the privileged to the masses now, and the dominant narrative of the dance holds that ODC was a Hindu dance that ended up being a fallen form

07:22 - as a result of Muslim rule and political intervention in the region starting in the 15th century, I did not find that to be the case. I found that view to be in fact indicative of a do mode of historiography that has a Hindu bias and also seeks to alienate Muslim subjects from an Indian identification. So I actually found that the GPU tradition in fact, became institutionalized under Maal rule,

07:59 - and that the Mahari tradition, which was allegedly displaced according to the conventional narrative, actually continued into the period of British colonialism and in the post-colonial era for a brief time. So it was really in the era of colonial modernity that many dance forms were targeted by colonial and native activists and officials, and discouraged as a tradition in Orissa in the 1960s because of a general

08:31 - and problematic association of various kinds of dance traditions, especially those performed by women dancers, as associated with prostitution sex work and concubine edge. And there were complex social attitudes towards these practices as a result. And the mahari tradition, for instance, then became deinstitutionalized and is no longer in service at the juggernaut pur temple

09:08 - where it was a tradition for a thousand years. So the book was really designed to examine the key historical breaks and shifts in Odic C'S trajectory, what led to its making in the 1950s through and intertwining of the various practices and textual and artistic sources that I mentioned previously. And I conducted interdisciplinary research by doing extensive archival research,

09:44 - ethnographic field work and studying the literary artistic and material culture linked to ODC dance, especially studying the temples and the archeological monuments associated with it. And of course, I watched performances. I took part in dance classes and workshops in order to better inhabit the different styles that compose or DC today and interviewing many of the practitioners,

10:12 - both dance teachers, students, and well-known exponents of the form. When I began the research, I noticed that ODC, as I said, was framed as the oldest classical form, and this was on the basis of the mention of apparently the root form of the ti in the n as well as a series of dance release that appeared at a site called the Rani Caves, which is just outside the city of Bernet in Orisha. And I went to that site

10:47 - and I realized that the reliefs that are allegedly depicting the dance show dance occurring in pastoral spaces, dance occurring in courts, dance occurring in social situations. And so that was my first hint, my first research clue that dance didn't exist only as a temple ritual historically. And in fact, I later found out that temples as structures only originated around the fifth century

11:24 - because that's when they started to build stone edifices. Prior to this time, there wasn't a whole culture of temple building in the way that we understand it today. And so this also opened up the possibility for thinking through the various kinds of relationship that dance had to the society and more specifically in relation to the state because there are some epic graphs at the site at the U caves, which, holds the ran caves. There's also an inscription there from the king

12:02 - who was a gen king in the first century, BCE, who mentioned that he sponsored dance in order to give pleasure to his subjects and to again indicate his position as a culturally sophisticated person. And what I realized at this time is that dance wasn't only fulfilling a ritual function, it was fulfilling a political function. So it was from that time that I started to trace Rd C's trajectory,

12:35 - or at least the antecedents of Rd c, what we call Rd C today, how those antecedents developed in relationship to the state. So at that time, dance and ora was very much tied to the political function of the monarchy. And later I also found out that the mahari rituals, which were established around the 11th century in Oria were also cultivated by the royal regimes.

13:04 - And so this was very interesting because it showed me that there was an inordinate interest in dance on behalf of state agents, and it led me to question why, why was there this special relationship between dance and the state at different historical moments? So what I found out is that dance operated as a significant form for the state, whether it was being targeted in negative terms or celebrated in positive terms.

13:36 - And this was true of the pre-colonial period, the colonial period, what is referred to often as the mogul period of history. and what we see repeatedly is this assertion by the state that dance is an important social activity. And so what I see over time is that it developed really as a local stage form and then it became institutionalized as a temple tradition. It also existed as a street form or as part of the PTI religious movement

14:19 - because that's when the UA form when it came into being, it was trying to ize on behalf of the bakhti movement to attract proponents outside of the dominant orthodox religious sphere. And you see a whole range of ways in which the state is mobilizing a relationship to dance again in order to create a relationship with its subjects. And in order to assert the extraordinary power Of the royalty.

14:53 - And this is why I think in art science specific, there was a constant relationship between dance and the state because art was not simply, a woven into the social fabric. It was seen as a highly politicized activity. And over time it kept being mobilized by the state. The colonial regime also saw dance as an activity it wanted to target when it wanted to actually marginalize or and cultural values and orian heritage practices. And later on we see that the post-colonial state

15:36 - also took up the regulation of dance as one of its activities. And again, it saw dance then as a sign of archaic cultural elements that had to be excised for the modern nation state to come into being. And so we see that dance operated very much in this political struggle over time, whether it was privileged by some royal authorities and state authorities, or whether it was then the attempt was made to marginalize it as well in certain moments

16:14 - by extraordinary genders, I wanted to create a term that would speak to the way in which non-normative gendered practices were for grounded by state authorities over time in relation to the antecedents of the ODC forum and then in the modern period linked to the ODC practice itself. So the reason I chose extraordinary genders is that often we think of non-normative gender expressions in the Western frame as queer, broadly speaking,

16:54 - queerness signals non normativity, both in terms of gender and sexuality. When I was doing my study, I wanted to separate the study of gender and sexuality because I actually had no insight into the very complex sexuality that was, embraced by the Mahari and ua, for example, who were the ritual performers from which, or DC draws much of its aesthetic and movement codes

17:28 - and of course its histories. So the extraordinary genders became a term that I could use to signal the fact that mahari and gowa in particular were extraordinary in relation to the normative valuations prescribed by society. The Mahar, for example, were Women who held the highest position in the temple order at the au Temple in Puri in Orisha. And they were female servit in that tradition. And their profession was to

18:08 - create dances and deliver song repertoires that would not only entertain the gods. Juna rah and balam at the Pur temple were seen as living entities. and the Mahari were seen as their wives, the wives of Juna. And the Mahari also had an elevated social position in that they weren't expected to, to adhere to the norms for ordinary women.

18:39 - They did not have to be married to men. They did not have to participate in heteronormative reproduction. They did not have to, abide by other kinds of social codes that were prescribed for ordinary women. They had access to wealth, to income, to education, to ritual knowledge. And so they held this elevated position in the orian social structure. And that's why I named them as inhabiting this sphere

19:13 - of the extraordinary gender spectrum. The Go Tip was also, that was a very interesting phenomenon where the UA were young boys who were embodying the figure of Radha. Radha is a divine figure who is seen as the consort of the God Krishna, who is very much a celebrated God in Orisha as a result of the PTI tradition, which really became consolidated in Orisha around the 15th to 16th centuries. And so these young boys were said

19:56 - to have to embody rather on stage in order to express their devotion to Krishna. And because the child's body was seen as a malleable body in its prepubescent phase, it was ripe for inscription around gender. And the Tupu tradition also saw gender. I would argue as then a floating property that could be enacted by male or female actors. And so because female dancers were already seen as inhabiting

20:36 - these feminized properties according to the normative gender thinking, these young boys then would be encouraged to embody Radha to express again their devotion to Krishna. And the dancing was a way also of consolidating that devotional mood. And the dancing also was a strong form of entertainment that would then attract followers to the PTI tradition. That was part of the motivation for the develop,

21:10 - the development of the Go Tippo form. So these two were enactments of extraordinary gender. They resided outside the conventional gender patternings that were prescribed at the time, and they were also exhibiting a phenomenon that was actually quite widespread in the subcontinent of interrupting binary gender codes. In fact, historically throughout Indian history, we see evidence that there was at least acknowledgement

21:45 - of three genders. So crossing genders in performance or enacting gender norms that were outside of the conventions assigned by the social structure that was also very much tied to the performance history in the subcontinent. So we see that by naming these practices in terms of extraordinary gender, we can be very specific about how they're literally outside the ordinary,

22:16 - and also that they are in some way marked for special consideration in terms of their epistemologies, in terms of, in terms of the practices they engender, in terms of how they take us out of everyday life and point to other possibilities outside the standard lexicons of gender. So this is why I wanted to identify this particular phenomenon. The Protopia refers to a space of alterity that is carved out by dancing bodies,

22:52 - and so it generates an epistemology, which is different than that of the dominant value system. But importantly, it doesn't find its identification as a counter hegemonic expression or as a resistive expression. It may be read that way, but that doesn't mean that at its core it is. It's about a phenomenon that is generated through moving bodies to create different kinds of knowledge systems, different kinds of value systems

23:27 - that again, lie adjacent to the norm, but don't define their own, normative structures in relation to what is dominant. So the para atopic is a parallel ground that's carved out by dance performance and it's temporal, yet it has lasting effects. So it has both an ephemeral quality as well as a durational quality in that it creates new cultural realities, new cultural imperatives that don't necessarily interrupt

24:06 - that which is dominant, but certainly multiply what is possible in terms of the social reality through performance. What I hope is that they'll understand Ori as a very complex aesthetic and political form, because in popular understandings, dance is often diminished as having political significance. It's seen often in purely aesthetic terms. We don't often consider the interrelationship between art and politics and in in this class size

24:37 - dance space in particular. And I hope that the book reveals the interrelationship between ODC dance and the state over time and shows readers an alternative narrative that opens up both their sense of the importance of the dance practice and its choreographic potentials. Because so often the narrative about the dance determines its choreographic protocols. So by opening up the histories of the form, we also open up its aesthetic possibilities.

Faculti AI can make mistakes