Ākāra

June 14, 2025, SAT AT 5.30 PM
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center,
Leona Wagner Black Box, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
More info here.

Odissi has travelled a long journey from the 2nd century BC Jain Caves of Orissa to the world stage today. From worship rituals in the temples in Orissa, it has become a performing art. A unique amalgamation of multiple Oriya traditions, it has emerged as a national dance of India, which continues to grow in its global popularity. My dance journey became one with Odissi’s redefined new form as a classical dance. Privileged to witness legendary artists who are long gone, I see Odissi take new shapes everyday. Each artist as the vessel that nurtures the tradition, uses Odissi language to tell their stories, their way, in their voice. And Odissi’s long turbulent and glorious history makes its embrace open wide to every new aesthetic while an essential Odissi-ness remains at the core of all its seekers.

Ākāra, the first work presented by the newly formed Bijayini Satpathy Dance Collective, is a fond remembrance of the early Odissi repertoire, by young artists of today, living memoirs of their respective cultures and history while they embody Odissi, who are also being shaped by Odissi’s aesthetics and stories in the process. I, as the teacher and choreographer, am privileged to be the interpreter of this rich and intangible heritage for the present generation of practitioners.