From my perspective and research, they had to be highly advanced yoginis, along with intensively trained dancers, starting at a very young age. Their life was single focused on their training and ritual dance duties. They were literally married to the God, thus were wives of the God, and appropriately given their own matriarchal caste at the highest level of society, next to the Deity, the “God King.”

Unfortunately, due to the rise of global patriarchy, foreign invasions, disrespect to the feminine, etc. this rich and essential tradition crumbled, much of it lost to dust and legend.

After India gained their independence from England in 1947, a great cultural revolution began. Odissi, the regional dance of Odisha, was a result of this renaissance, born from a few dedicated men piecing together the remains of a nearly forgotten Temple Dance tradition. They organized and classified their findings to create one of India’s premier Indian Classical Dance forms.

Ancient Temple Dance included rhythm of the feet with bells – Odissi has continued this practice. Feet slapping with ankle bells act as musical instruments. Yet also, since Temple Dancers were the ambassadors of Shakti to society, they also learned various methods to cultivate and channel Shakti. Feet slapping earth and stone of ancient Temples calls forth the bountiful and powerful Shakti of the earth, directly into the Dancer’s body, igniting the physical, energetic, spiritual system, and beyond. Hand gestures, called mudras, are sourced from this Shakti, as are the facial expressions, and this dance in general.

The collaboration and alchemy of these unique and specific elements create a bend in time, energy, and environment that is not only experienced by the dancer, but also the viewers… together we open into a timeless realm of divinity and mysteries of the Cosmos.

Reach out if you wish to deepen in this journey via my classes, workshops, or performances.

Note: This was not written by, generated, or anything to do with AI. This is a result of my seven solo trips to India for cultural immersion & pilgrimage, profound blessings to find & study intensively with master teachers for nearly two decades, unshakable devotion & discipline to practice, research, and authentically embody this tradition so it does not vanish forever.