Odissi dancers Elena Catalano and Katie Ryan use the power of the gaze, the drishti to take the audience on a journey through varying emotional states from awe of the divine to the playfulness of rhythm patterns, erotic pleasure to renunciation.
They will perform both traditional repertoire of Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra and also, improvisatory pieces that are more personal.

About the artist:
Elena Catalano has established herself as one of the finest Odissi dance artists in the UK. Her dance was described by critic Donald Hutera as 'bright, quick and richly detailed' (Pulse). In 2017, she received the Nritya Yuva (Young Dancer of the Year) National Indian Arts Award. She is the founder of Bhumi (the first Odissi Dance Academy in the UK and is currently part of Sadlers Wells South Asian Artist Development Programme.

Katie Ryan odissi dancer and choreographer, trained with Shankar Behera and withSmt Madhavi Mudgal in the UK and India. She also obtained an BA from the Place inSouth Asian and Contemporary dance. Katie has performed widely with the OdissiEnsemble and created Sacred Shapes, an outdoor work based on the concept on mandalas. Katie was awarded the Marion North Mentoring Award for Choreography in 2018.