Aloka Panikar comes from a family of famous theatrical artists from Bengal. It is therefore understandable why, from a young age, her attention turned to the world of the stage. She began her professional career as a dancer, taking on the role of Sita in the Rama Lila Ballet of the Bharatiya Kala Kendra in New Delhi, under the direction of the great Kathakali master Guru Gopinath. She soon discovered, like others, that among the various forms of classical Indian dance, she had a greater inclination for the Orissi style, which she began to study under the guidance of the famous Guru Maya Dhar Raut. The long and arduous training not only allowed her to deepen her technical skills in the style but also to assimilate the genuine spirit of the art.
One of the various divisions used by the Natya Shastra for its analysis of stage culture is regional. Of the four areas the famous treatise refers to, one can be identified with the modern state of Orissa, from which the Orissi dance derives its name. Like every other traditional dance, Orissi was originally a cultural practice reserved exclusively for certain priestesses (in this case called maharis) who performed it, particularly during the daily ceremony of barha singar in which the image of the god Jagannath was prepared for nighttime rest at dusk.
Although archaeological evidence documents it as one of the oldest dances in India, the definitive structuring of its choreographic language, which determined its current status as a classical dance, dates only to the late 1950s. At that time, four of the most renowned gurus of Orissa, in lengthy and now famous working sessions, based on classical treatises and iconographic tradition, and with the help of expert maharis, redefined and fixed the rich vocabulary of the dance, which from then on was known by the previously nonexistent name of Orissi.
It should be mentioned that one of the four remembered gurus, Guru Maya Dhar Raut, is present at the Festival as the director of the orchestral ensemble performing the music. In the very short time since its official inception, Orissi has enjoyed a significant expansion, quickly becoming one of the most appreciated and studied classical Indian dances both in India and worldwide. Like all other classical Indian dances, Orissi, while retaining the religious imprint of its origins, has now become essentially an artistic phenomenon. And although it can sometimes still be danced in temples on special occasions, its most suitable place is now the secular stage of theaters.
