CHINESE ODISHI DANCER MADE HISTORY ( BY LOKANATH MISHRA)

Odissi (Odia: ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ) dance is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the temple of Prabhu Shri Jagannath, Puri and other famous temples in Odisha. Odissi is believed to be one of the oldest surviving classical dance forms in the country, originating its roots dating back to the Prabhu Shri Jagannath temple of Puri in the 2nd century BCE. As with all other classical dance forms of India, Odissi was also performed as a part of temple worship. The theoretical foundations of Odissi trace to the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, its existence in antiquity evidenced by the dance poses in the sculptures of Kalingan temples and archeological sites related to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It was suppressed under the Muslim and British Rule. The suppression was protested by the Indians, followed by its revival, reconstruction and expansion since India gained independence from the colonial rule. Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artist(s) and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes,body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature. During the Sultanate and Mughal era of India, the temple dancers were moved to entertain the Sultan's family and courts. They became associated with concubinage to the Sultanas and Moguls The Odissi dance likely expanded in the 17th century, under Gajapati King Ramachandradeva's patronage. This expansion integrated martial arts (akhanda) and athletics into Odissi dance, by engaging boys and youth called Gotipuas, as a means to physically train the young for the military and to resist foreign invasions. According to Ragini Devi, historical evidence suggests that the Gotipuas tradition was known and nurtured in the 14th century, by Raja of Khordha. During the British Raj, the officials of the colonial government ridiculed the temple traditions, while Christian missionaries launched a sustained attack on the moral outrage of sensuousness of Odissi and other Hindu temple dance arts. In 1872, a British civil servant named William Hunter watched a performance at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, then wrote, "Indecent ceremonies disgraced the ritual, and dancing girls with rolling eyes put the modest worshiper to the blush...", and then attacked them as idol-worshiping prostitutes who expressed their devotion with "airy gyrations". Christian missionaries launched the "anti-dance movement" in 1892, to ban all such dance forms. The dancers were frequently stigmatized as prostitutes by Europeans during the colonial era. In 1910, the British colonial government in India banned temple dancing, and the dance artists were reduced to abject poverty from the lack of any financial support for performance arts, combined with stereotyping stigma. The temple dance ban and the cultural discrimination during the colonial rule marshaled a movement by Hindus to question the stereotypes and to revive the regional arts of India, including Odissi. Due to these efforts, the classical Indian dances witnessed a period of renaissance and reconstruction, which gained momentum particularly after Indians gained their freedom from colonialism. Odissi, along with several other major Indian dances gained recognition after efforts by many scholars and performers after 1947. Now Odishi dance is being performed by modern dancers throughout the world 🌎 At present there are many odishi dancers of foreign countries are performing Odishi dance. Many Muslim and Christian dancers are also performing Odishi dance in USA, Canada 🍁, Australia, UK, 🇯🇵 Japan, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇫🇷 France etc. The first Chinese Odishi dancer Zhang Jun had passed away in 2012. Chinese Odissi dancer Wu Kan was learnt Odishi dance form Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra’s Odissi institution . Chinese Odishi dancer Soo Mei Fei was learnt Odishi dance at the age of seventeen, along with her classmates at National Junior College of Singapore . Recently one Chinese dancer makes history by performing Odishi and 'Arangetram' in China . Lei Muzi, a 13-year-old school student, made her solo dance debut on Sunday (August 11) in front of the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson, Indian diplomats and a large audience of Chinese fans. Lei Muzi, the Chinese Bharatanatyam student, performs at the first ever Arangetram, and Odishi dance in Beijing, China on August 11, 2024. For ardent Chinese fans of Indian classical art and dance forms who devoted their lives to learning and performing them for decades, her debut was a moment of history and a milestone as it was the first-ever “Arangetram” - Bharatnatyam's graduation ceremony - in China.