Dancing the Gods 2025: Night Three - Bijayini Satpathy

Our annual Dancing the Gods festival of Indian Dance celebrates its 14th and final year, featuring some of the leading performers of Indian dance, curated by festival creator Rajika Puri.

Each evening’s performance will be preceded by a special presentation honoring Rajika and her visionary leadership and dedication to the festival throughout the years. Please join us as we express our immense appreciation to Rajika for her vital contributions to the festival’s longstanding success as well as to the broader cultural landscape of New York City.

Bijayini Satpathy, a distinguished master of Odissi on the global stage, has enjoyed a prolific career spanning more than three decades as a highly acclaimed performer, master teacher, and esteemed scholar. In 2019, at the age of 50, Satpathy embarked on a distinctive solo journey to expand the tradition through her choreographic works. The premiere of her debut self-choreography, “Abhipsaa – A Seeking,” in 2021 garnered widespread praise for its compelling exploration and reinterpretation of the ancient tradition, propelling Satpathy to the forefront as a choreographer. Commissioned by Duke Performances and Baryshnikov Arts, with support from NEFA’s National Dance Project, the New York premiere of “Abhipsaa – A Seeking” was hosted in 2023 by Baryshnikov Arts, preceded by a virtual presentation in 2021 featuring a conversation between Bijayini Satpathy and Mark Morris with an introduction by Mikhail Baryshnikov. She was also invited in 2023 to perform her popular work “Sitaharan” with live music at the 20th edition of Fall for Dance, at New York City Center.

Her exceptional contributions to Odissi in Education and Performance were recognized with the Dance Magazine Award in 2023 and the prestigious publication observes, “When Bijayini Satpathy dances, the air around her changes… everything beyond the world she creates onstage seems to dissolve.” In India, she has been honored with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar and the esteemed Nritya Choodamani title from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai.

Satpathy cultivated her passion for Odissi in Orissa and spent 25 years at Nrityagram, where she was a principal dancer, teacher, researcher, and administrator from 1993 to 2018. Discovered by Nrityagram’s founder, Smt. Protima Gauri, she collaborated closely with Artistic Director Surupa Sen, achieving global recognition for their distinctive duets. Her profound understanding of integrated physical conditioning for Odissi, combined with expertise in Yoga, Natyashastra, Kalaripayattu, western techniques, anatomy, and kinesiology, led to her role as Nrityagram’s Director of Training and Outreach, elevating the international standing of the school for its distinctive training approach.

Satpathy’s essay “The ever-expanding horizons of the world of Odissi” in The Oxford Handbook of Indian Dance, edited by Anurima Banerji and Prarthana Purkayastha, is scheduled for publication in 2024 by Oxford University Press, New York.

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