Educational Residencies
and Professional Training
Bijayini Satpathy is renowned as a master teacher and scholar of Odissi. While Odissi is an ancient tradition, Satpathy calls upon deep kinetic and emotional insights to explore its rich history in profoundly modern ways. She is an approachable lecturer, thoughtful scholar, and inspirational teacher.
Satpathy is an invited scholar to the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency 2024 to further her research and development of the Odissi training pedagogy. She is also a 2023-24 fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, deepening and strengthening her choreographic vocabulary.
NY City Center Studio 5 invited her twice, first in 2021 and more recently in 2023, where Satpathy delivered lecture demonstrations about the origins and evolution of Odissi and her innovative expansion of its movement vocabulary. She has also been featured on the esteemed Dance Teacher Magazine’s online channel.
Satpathy's essay "The ever-expanding horizons of the world of Odissi" in The Oxford Handbook of Indian Dance, edited by Anurima Banerji and Prarthana Purkayastha, is scheduled for publication in 2024 by Oxford University Press, New York.
Since 2023, Satpathy has hosted an annual residential workshop in India, attracting students from various corners of the globe. In 2015, she served as the Regents Residency Lecturer in the Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance at UCLA.
As Director of Training and Outreach for Nrityagram for 20 years, she developed a unique training vocabulary for Odissi that has earned international acclaim. Her understanding of integrated physical conditioning for Odissi/Indian classical dance, combined with her knowledge of Yoga, Natyashastra, Kalaripayattu, western techniques, anatomy and kinesiology is a foundational core of her teaching.
She believes the symbolism of Odissi mirrors society's emphasis on codes, norms, values, and virtues. Odissi dance is a visual codification of a culture with all its various aspects of beliefs and practices. Her work offers Odissi as a relevant universal movement idiom for today and the future, while also inspiring dancers and artists to push beyond traditional forms through renewed interpretations. There is rich cultural, musical, physical, and spiritual inquiry to be made through this tradition and Satpathy revels in this exploration with general audiences and dancers alike.
Movement workshops for dancers at all levels are a core focus of her educational work. Satpathy also facilitates master classes for professional dancers as well as teacher training programs, lecture demonstrations and talks.
University departments and community organizations interested in dance, music, cross-cultural studies, and dance-anthropology benefit enormously from Bijayini Satpathy’s experience and scholarship. Topics of exploration include, but are not limited to:
Odissi Dance - Its History, Evolution, and Vocabulary
Gestures & Storytelling in Odissi
Dance Scriptures and Their Relevance Today
Reconstruction of Odissi from Temple Sculptures as Primary Influence of Odissi Vocabulary
Natyashastra Movement & Its Anatomical Relevance
Non-Narrative & Narrative Dance Creation in Odissi
Indian Music & Its Relationship to Movement
Educational residencies are developed in consultation with the host organization and can be curated to meet the needs of multiple constituents.
Photo credits: Shalini Jain; Arun Kumar; Vipul Sangoi; Simon Richardson
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