From India to the Biennale Teatro, the Odissi dance is a performative art with a rigorous vocabulary, imbued with spirituality and refined eroticism, handed down through the centuries: it is presented by the Calcutta-based choreographer and dancer, Sharmila Biswas. Among the various forms taken by Indian classical dance, originally developed as a devotional practice in the central-eastern region of the country, Odissi is performed to music that blends the Carnatic tradition of southern India with the Hindustani tradition of the north, alternating with dramatic texts drawn mainly from the poem Gita Govinda.
