The beauty of Odissi, the oldest surviving classical dance of India, was on full display in Arpanam, a production by Sandra Sookdeo’s Kala Mandir at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando.
A major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Odisha, an eastern coastal state of India, Odissi was performed predominantly by women and expressed religious stories and spiritual ideas
An Odissi performance repertoire includes invocation, nritta (pure dance), nritya (expressive dance), natya (dance drama) and moksha (dance climax connoting salvation of the soul and spiritual release).
Sookdeo, the founder of Kala Mandir, studied the Odissi style of classical dance under the guidance of Shri Pratap and Priya Pawar from 1976 to 1980 and continued her training with the late Shri Pradeep Shankar from 1980.
In 1987, she was awarded a scholarship by the government of T&T and India to study dance at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi. There she majored in Odissi under the expert guidance of Guru Mayadhar Raut
After graduating in 1991, Sookdeo opened her dance school, Kala Mandir, at her home on Munroe Road, Cunupia.
The first half of Arpanam was a recital while the second half was a ballet presentation.