Nandini Sikand is an odissi dancer, filmmaker, and anthropologist. She is the co-founder and co-director of Sakshi Productions, a neo-classical and contemporary dance company, and an Assistant Professor in the interdisciplinary film and media studies program at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

“This is a significant work of scholarship as Sikand also draws attention to important methodological approaches in the future study of odissi, its historiography and sources such as paintings and palm-leaf manuscripts which have only been studied by very few scholars… These are the voices who are attempting to answer the question, how does an art form continue to flourish for generations to come? May such work continue to be explored and appreciated.” · Pulse Magazine“Through its study of an underexplored style of Indian dance and performance, this book adds to the now well-established field of how colonial and nationalist politics have reshaped the arts in India. What is especially welcome is that it adds to the less developed field of how one might integrate the historical narrative with aesthetic concepts embedded in performing arts practice, thus expanding the possibilities of social science methodology.” · Kalpana Ram, Macquarie University

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Towards a Global CommunityChapter 1. (Re)writing a History of Odissi DanceChapter 2. Choreographing Tradition and the Practice of SadhanaChapter 3. Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hain? Or “What’s Behind the Blouse”?Chapter 4. The Marketplace of Odissi DanceChapter 5. Odissistan: Embodying a Sacred SpaceConclusion: Looking Within and WithoutKey InformantsGlossary of TermsBibliography