aesthetics-odissi
Aesthetics of Odissi
Presentation and Demonstration by Trupti Panigrahi,* Aesthetics of Story, 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM | 1 June 2026
This presentation introduces Odissi as an Indian classical dance form whose aesthetic character lies not only in movement, but in a carefully organised vocabulary of body, rhythm, expression, music, sculpture, devotion, geography and cultural memory. Through explanation and demonstration, it will trace where Odissi comes from, how it was revived and constructed as a “classical” form, and how its distinctive style and technique are produced through posture, gesture, torso movement, footwork, facial expression, and choreographic grammar. The presentation will also reflect on Odissi’s standard practices, including costume and jewellery, while considering how these aesthetic choices are shaped by social histories and institutional ideas of tradition and respectability.
The presentation will also ask what happens when law tries to understand dance. Copyright law often looks for fixed, identifiable, and author-centred works, but Odissi complicates and challenges these assumptions. Its aesthetics emerge through embodied training, innovative choices, guru-shishya parampara, and shared technique and memory. By demonstrating how Odissi is crafted, performed, and recognised, the presentation will show why legal frameworks often fail to grasp the layered and relational nature of classical dance in India.
*Trupti Panigrahi is a third-year PhD student at CCLS, Queen Mary University of London. Her PhD is funded by UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council-London Arts and Humanities Partnership, and is supervised by Professor Johanna Gibson and Mr. Gavin Sutter.