Minati Mishra's Odissi Dances in Arundhati (Oriya, 1967)

I've found the remaining Odissi dances of Minati Mishra in the 1967 Oriya film Arundhati!  I'm simply stunned.  I had figured I would never get to see any of the film's dances other than the rare Bharatanatyam-Odissi one from my favorite black-and-white classical dances post because Oriya/Odia films are very difficult to come by (in fact, I haven't the first clue how to get my hands on one).  Perhaps Arundhati's 1967 National Award (Best Feature Film - Oriya) has been a factor in its availability.

I found the dances by performing a quick Google search after happening onto the news of veteran Odissi dancer Minati Mishra being one of the recipients this year of the Indian Padma Shri award (here's video of her accepting the award - what a fancy ceremony!).  2012 has indeed been the year of ridiculously amazing discoveries on this blog!

Below are the wonderful, rare dances, uploaded by YouTuber hellodebabrata.  It's incredibly rare to see such classical Odissi in Indian films, though I suspect there is likely some filmy license taken such as increasing the speed and other minor deviations.  But given how respected a dancer Minati was, I assume the alterations are minimal.  Surely there are more of these wonderful dances hiding in the archives of Oriya cinema (such as Baje Bainsi Nache Ghungura from my Holy Grail post).  Occasionally there is a disgraceful bar/graphic that appears, but it only last a few seconds!  Embedding is disabled on all the clips, so please click on the image to link to the video.  Update March 2013 - YouTube videos no longer available; replacements listed below!

Namami Bighnaraj - The most classical of the bunch, this dance begins with the dancer's invocation of offering flowers before beginning her performance.  The first half features a good amount of expressional dance/abhinaya whereas the second half offers plentiful pure dance flourishes!  The hallmark Odissi poses, like the tribhangi and chauk, are clearly evident.  Only downside is this song has no english subtitles, boo!

Dekhiba Para Aasare - A group dance performed by five Odissi dancers, this number is a change of pace and features some simple group spatial choreography.  I love the stylized entrance walk of the dancers and the move where they walk slightly backwards with short steps of only the heels (I'm sure it has a name!).  Improving upon the last number, the subtitles suddenly turn on about halfway in this one. 

Abhimanini - This is the dance that I featured previously, and Minati seems to switch almost entirely to the Bharatanatyam idiom (which is most evident starting around 1:32) with a teensy bit of Odissi thrown in for good measure.  For me, the most thrilling portion is the last two minutes where she performs beautiful pure dance and descends down the stairs.  And finally - English subtitles all the way through!

Aren't they just wonderful dances!  There is also a folk dance in the film, if you're interested.

Last, a bit more info on Minati Mishra: She is currently considered "the oldest performing Odissi dancer of the world today" and just last year gave a nearly one-hour solo Odissi performance at a festival celebrating her "commitment to and continuity with Odissi" (The Hindu).  She began learning Odissi under "the trio of gurus Pankajcharan, Debaprasad and Kelucharan Mohapatra" (The Hindu) in the 1940s, a time when "the classical dance form of Odissi was not even born" and "conservative Oriya society" considered dance an inappropriate activity for women. She also learned Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra for a time but soon returned to Odissi will full-time devotion (The Hindu).

11 comments Minati Mishra, Odia, Odissi