Buddhaditya Padhi and Prashanta Chandra Panda, Bhubaneswar, January 22, 2016

Watching Odissi dance performed by artists like Madhulita and Meghna’s duet, or Aloka and group, or veteran danseuse Kumkum Mohanty’s group at Mukteswar Temple, Bhubaneswar last week, was simply exhilarating. The audience at the festival watched it completely engrossed with a tinge of awe and were simply delighted with the experience.

Everyone in the audience just loved the purity in the dance compositions and the sensational backdrop of the temple”, . You can be anyone there either a connoisseur of such aesthetic experiences or proud inheritor of such culture or simply an onlooker or bystander, you come out thoroughly charmed and thrilled by the Odissi dance in its various nuances.
Tourism Department of the government of Odisha deserves all kudos for acknowledging and promoting Odissi at its best. Destination branding is rightly fortified by encouraging cultural events at places of historic and archaeological importance.

Be it popular Konark Dance Festival at the backdrop of the Sun Temple, the puritan Mukteshwar Dance Festival in the enthralling premises of the Mukteshwar Temple, and Chaushathi Yogini Mahotsav at the quiet environs of the Tantric Shakti Peeth, the Ministry is doing its bit for brand promotion of Odisha.

Such activities promote and preserve our rich heritage and help grow our art giving it much needed visibility. Continuing such efforts to bring our artists to forefront and giving them their deserved pride will very soon create a few brand ambassadors potential enough to take Odisha to dizzy heights in the international realms of art.

Brand Odisha has all the ingredients – the flora and fauna, the people, the rich culture and heritage, the magnificent beaches, the cuisine, the religious beliefs – to make it a great brand. Odissi essentially gives a distinct identity to differentiate itself and to enrich it.

Archaeological research has collected strong evidence of Odissi being the earliest form of classical dance in India. The dancing figures in the rock caves of Khandagiri and Udaygiri in Bhubanesar, (1st Century B.C.), classical dance sculptural poses or bhangis on the walls of 13th Century Sun Temple points at the importance this form of art. Although Odissi originated as a court dance, through an osmotic transference, it got into the temple culture of Odisha and evolved as a dance offering to the Gods. That’s why the themes portrayed in the dance are eexclusively religious in nature.

Offering and surrender to the Supreme is ingrained in the culture of India and more so in Odisha. The fluid, flexible, subtle aggression and sensuous nature of Odissi reflects the brand personality of Odisha.

The Tribangi pose depicts the flexibility that this form offers and the bhangis or rhythmic movements make the dance non-jerky and yielding. The Mahari School is the devadasi tradition which makes the dance a religious offering to the Gods. The form is known for the fluidity and grace in its movements.

The dance has important parts in it such as Padabhada, Bhumi, Chari, Biramani, Bhangi and Rasta (Mudras) and so on. Tribhangi is a posture which is dominant in Odissi and which makes the body of the dancer bent in three places, the head, the chest and the pelvis. This particular pose creates a point of difference for the brand Odissi placing it in a quadrant very different from all the rest of the dance forms of India and the brand differentiation provides superior value to the consumer.

Mukteshwar Dance Festival has earned the reputation of being in the five top dance festivals of India. Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has put in good effort to build brand salience for Odisha in the past few years. The efforts were rightfully awarded with Odisha Tourism bagging the Best Tourism Festival Award at the prestigious International Tourism Conclave and Travel Award (ITCTA) award held in Shimla. The strategy of blending tourism with culture has increased equity of brand Odisha and will lead it further to more glories in future.

(Buddhaditya Padhi and Prashanta Chandra Panda are faculty in School of Management, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar)