Odissi

Odissi is originated from Hindu temples from Orissa, an eastern coastal state of India. It is performed by women to express religious stories and spiritual ideas particularly of the Lord Vishnu as Jagannath (Vaishnavism). It also performs ideas related to Hindu gods Shiva and Hindu goddesses. Odissi is declared during Islamic rule era and their dance poses are sculptured in the Hindu temples of Orissa. It is a dance-drama style where the artist(s) and musicians play a mythical story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from Hindu text. There are two major dance style, one which is performed by women and focused on the spiritual temple dance and second, performed by boys dressed as girls. It has a diverse range of themes, culture fusion, plays and experimental ideas. This classical dance refers to four main fundamental forms of expressions, namely, body movement - Angika, vocal and sung textual expression - Vachika, pure communicative expression - Sattvika and expressions through makeup, costumes, and ornaments - Aharya. Women who dance in the temple (Maharis), traditionally wear black velvet bodices with saree wrapped from the waist down with the decorative end of pallu spread in front. The popular version of this costume is the decorative front pleated in the vertical fashion down the front.