Bay Area Meet on April 23rd, 2023
December 11, 2023
By Dr. Rohini Doshi Dandavate
Bay Area Odissi dance Instructors came together to plan towards making Odissi dance education supportive, encouraging and methodical.
On Sunday, April 23, 2023 a group of leading Odissi dance instructors met under the aegis of the Odissi Alliance of North America, (OANA). In line with the mission of OANA, the objective of this meeting was to brain storm and co create strategies to enable quality Odissi dance education in North America.
Some of the points discussed were on how to:
Facilitate sharing of learning resources and dance related information both online and in person, amongst teachers and students.
Create opportunities for-peer interaction by designing shared activities by teachers.
Provide opportunities to learn about Odissi’s history in North America and those who have established themselves in the field of Odissi in North America.
Develop activities which can help students delve in understanding the nuances in movement styles of the various architects of the present day form of Odissi.
Help students learn to relate dance practice and theory.
Give students access to other teachers or artists in Odissi or related fields (workshops and special events) to stimulate creativity and artistry through new ways of thinking about dance.
OANA, a 501(c)(3) organization, is committed to sharing knowledge and building infrastructure to sustain high-quality Odissi performance, education, and scholarship in North America and this meeting was one of the first steps in this direction.
OANA thanks Gayatri Mishra Joshi and the attendees (Dr. Rohini Doshi Dandavate, Sima Chakraborty, Jyoti Rout, Vishnu Tattva Das - online, Bidisha Mohanty, Dipti Mallik, Manasi Padhi, Shrishti Sahu) for joining and being open to share ideas.
