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The book is a collection of essays contextualizing Odissi dance within broader themes. The first two essays deal with dance in general and classical Indian dance in particular within the context of India. The next two essays focus on the larger themes of the female dancer, courtesan/temple dancer or devadasi (religious/secular or sacred/profane), and the male dancer, beginning with the male body in female garb in dance (the gotipua tradition in Odissi). The chapter includes the principal gurus of Odissi, the reconstructors of the neo-classical tradition, Padmashri Pankaj Charan Das, Padmabibhushan Kelucharan Mohapatra, Deba Prasad Das, and Mayadhar Raut. This theme broadens into the sociopolitical and economic ramifications of the male body in dance in Orissa. The following essay, "The Odissi Renaissance: the Rebirth of Odissi, or the Birth of Neo-classical Odissi Dance," is on post-colonial reconstruction of an oral art form. The sixth essay deals with the question of changing national identities through dance in the broader Asian context as phrased within the political realities of globalization. Finally, the concluding essay encapsulates classical Indian dance in the diaspora and mainstream USA in the context of regional identities. Odissi positions itself at the centre of all of these thematic discussions in the book.
ISBN - 9788190744942
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Pages : 240
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