by Leigh Witchel
For a long time, Bijayini Satpathy was a pillar of Nrityagram, the Odissi dance village and performing group that is one of the best examples of the form we see in the U.S. Now, she’s doing her own work.
“Abhipsaa – a seeking” was first performed in 2021 at Duke University. It’s made it to New York finally. Satpathy’s work is different than Nrityagram’s; it zeroes back in on the most quintessential Odissi form, the solo recital. Her hour-long concert was in some ways a traditional Odissi recital, but she was tweaking the formula.
The evening began with a disembodied, keening voice, played on a recording. Satpathy appeared from the darkness in a lunge, her hands slowly curving like waves. This was “Vigraha – oned” a vignette of a woman worshipping Shiva through his avatars, Yoni and Lingam. The two represent the female and male reproductive organs, but also their essences, much like yin and yang. Satpathy headed to the floor as the lights slowly brightened. We could make out the red in her costume, and the silver in her hair, transitioning to black as it traveled back.
The slow, sinuous introduction exploded in a leap. She went into a narrative section where the lights slowly brightened. Satpathy dispensed with the voiceover introductions usually done by Nrityagram. It sped up the show, but also made the evening more cryptic unless you read program notes first, and you had to scan a QR code for that. Still, even without a program you knew Shiva was a subject when Satpathy mimed shooting an arrow, then his furious gaze.
She suddenly stamped with percussive feet into a long, slower section before kicking round with a stomp, and ended backing slowly up with her palms pressed together. “Vigraha” moved at a measured pace; even with starts and stops to give it some texture, the tempo doesn’t vary much. What was clear was how much control Satpathy had over her instrument – her body.
The lights reddened for another work, “Vibhanga – broken & rebuilt,” that began with slow, deliberate bols. Satpathy faced away from us, moving slowly back, then tilting and drifting to the side. It all happened with unshakable coordination through positions to the side, then walking back. What makes Satpathy a remarkable dancer is her command. When she strikes a position on one leg, she hits it and that’s that. Nothing moves except where and when it’s supposed to.
The dance continued side to side and then back on a diagonal. The pace stayed deliberate; she traveled back, and once again, with an increase in speed and a spring into the air before coming round. Even when she kicked and posed abruptly the motion was controlled. She spun round the stage to another spring before heading to the floor, and ended with her back to us as the lights slowly went out.
Satpathy took about a minute between each dance to catch her breath; there were no costume changes; it was a marathon. For us as well, in some ways. “Abhipsaa” required intense focus; the solo concert is a hard, demanding form for the viewer, often with only subtle variations to navigate. Itohan Edoloyi’s lighting was also dim and womb-like – a rough choice when attention must be paid.
On to the next solo., “Virahi – in longing.” From a pose on her knees Satpathy fell forward and looked round; she made a hand gesture of meeting an animal, then begged on her knees before slowly walking a diagonal.
The detailed acting of an unfamiliar story was a little like watching someone go crazy on television, but with the sound off. Yet if you’ve been to a few Indian dance recitals, you actually did know the story. It was one of the most common; the love story of Krishna and Radha, but this time, Satpathy choose to tell it not from the point of Radha’s longing, but of Krishna’s.
A clue: in the song, you could hear several times “sakhi,” Radha’s friend, an important character in the tale. As always, the story ended happily. After all the begging, though Satpathy was alone onstage we could see Krishna lying down to recline with Radha as the lights went out.
The lights clapped on brilliantly yellow and incandescent, for “Vimukhri – the final dance.” As is often the case, the last piece was a virtuoso showcase. The music featured bols, and was traditional yet modern, using electronic sounds.
Satpathy stayed low until she stood with her back to us before swaying forwards. Turning round in half rotations raising one arm and then – Pow! Like a conjurer she moved, springing across the stage. It felt as if she were drawing the dance from the music and the rhythm, but also the space itself.
Even in a virtuoso showcase, there were flashes of a recognizable story: catching a bird, setting it free, then Satpathy became the bird with her back and arms. The way narrative and movement interweave felt uniquely Indian. She revolved around, smiling and transported, but suddenly she was on the floor to pose and finish, coming up to accept our applause.
The reason someone chooses to go off on their own is the same as moving out of your parent’s home – autonomy. Satpathy has said that she wanted to do Odissi her way and this interview worth reading details a few of the arguably radical changes in structuring and music she made.
But what would look radical to a practitioner, from the audience looks like tweaks. We wouldn’t know a thillana from a pallavi. By taking Odissi dance, scaling it up with an ensemble and using some Western compositional methods, Surupa Sen’s work for Nrityagram took on a different form even the uninitiated could sense. For us to see “Abhipsaa” as radical, Satpathy would need to explode the concept of the recital. What we see instead, and it’s nothing to sniff at, is the magnificence of her instrument.
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
“Abhipsaa” – Bijayini Satpathy
Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY
September 22, 2023
Cover: Bijayini Satpathy in “Abhipsaa.” Photo © Maria Baranova.
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