Odissi Dancing: 3 Pronged Posture

Video Transcript

"In this I'm going to show you the second basic posture of Odissi which is the three pongged posture; the three pong means three bends of the body and this is the posture that identifies Odissi as distinct from other dances from India, from the region. And the three bends of the body are we start with the first bend which is on the knees; as you see one foot is slightly in front of the other foot and the heel is in front of the arch of the foot that's at the back, the first bend again is at the knees. The second bends comes from moving the hips over on one side and a slight turning of the torso with the shoulders bent down over the foot in front that is the second bend. The third bend is connecting the hip to; the hip positioning to the shoulders and as you see it's like as if the ears are connected to the shoulders, the side of the shoulder goes down on and if you want to just switch to the other side; and the ear goes up on the other side and the eyes look in that direction. This is the classic posture of Odissi which is the three pongged position and it traces its origin and on the other side; to the temple carvings found in Orissa."