2024-25 Bhumi Dance

Learning Opportunities

Online and face to face

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Welcome to Bhumi

Whether you are new to Bhumi Dance or you have been attending our classes and events for the last 10 years or so, we would like to warmly welcome you in our community!

For us, dance is a spiritual practice, whose goal is to fine tune us to the complexities of the cosmos.

We do so, by firstly bringing attention to and working on our material bodies.

Then, we gain clarity on the functioning of our minds. On the boundaries of our comfort zone.

We enhance our observation of nature and life, by embodying emotions, ideas, images, energies.

In this process we face our vulnerabilities, but we also discover the strength we can harness through embodied imagination.

We discover the healing power of a ‘care-ful’ gesture or a mindful sound, through which we perceive something we cannot fully describe or name

and yet that it is able to shift something within us.

For us, dance is a practice of coming together, to cure, with a sense of beauty and gentleness, wounds that come from experiencing the dark sides of life.

It is a quiet act of resistance against a world that goes fast, that wants more, that is unable to hold attention for the smallest of the hints,

that slashes silence and thrives in annihilating wonder.

We welcome you to this journey. We craft your inner light.


2024-25 Winter Term (January -March 2025)

Starter Offer!

Are you new to Bhumi or are you attending the Technique Class in Raynes Park (Wimbledon) for the first time and would like to check before committing?

Then this offer is for you: Apply a £12 Discount to your first class. Pay £20 instead of £32!!

  1. Odissi Short Course (Wimbledon/South West London) - 4 workshops

Where: Lantern Arts Centre, Raynes Park, SW20 8RA

When: Saturday 11-1pm

Level: Open Level

Dates: 18/01 - 01/02 - 22/02 - 08/03

Details:

In this short course, we will work on developing and expanding Odissi technical and expressive skills. This will include understanding of travelling steps (Charis), jumps(Utplavana) and turns (Bhramari) used in Odissi, as well as arm drills and explorations of stances inspired by temple sculptures (Alasya Kanya) . We will also develop expressive skills (Abhinaya) with a short choreography exploring the dressing up of the nayika (Heroine - Vasakasajika) and acquire understanding of odissi rhythm and music with a focus on ektali. We will continue to learn movement theory, following the Abhinaya Darpana text. This class is suitable for absolute beginners as we will start from basics but also good for Intermediate/advanced who want to work on developing nuances and expanding vocabulary.

Fee:

Drop In: Single Workshop 2 hours: (£15 x 2h + £2 admin fee) £32

Course: 4 workshops 8 hours: (£13 x 8h + £2 admin fee) £106


2. Odissi Short Course (Euston/Central London) - 4 workshops

Where: The Place, Euston

When: Saturdays bi-monthly 11-12.30pm (1.5h)

Dates: 25/01 - 08/02 - 01/03 - 15/03

Level: Open Level

Details:

In this short course we will be working on developing movement nuances and steps combinations. We will refine and polish movement phrases from Mohana Pallavi. You can attend the course even if you have NOT learned the pallavi as the focus will be on improving technique, movement dynamics, understanding of rhythm and expression. The class will be open level but more suitable to Improvers, Intermediate and Advanced. If you are an absolute Beginner, please drop us an email and we can consider on a case to case basis whether attending this class is beneficial to you. We will also learn a short abhinaya.

Fee:

Drop in: (£20 x 1.5h + £2 admin fee) £32

Course: (£18 x 6h +£2 admin fee) £110

3. Odissi Bundle

Do you want to attend both courses (Wimbledon + Euston)?

Get a £16 Discount and Pay only £200 for 14hours of training!


Booking:

  1. Make your transfer using the information below:

    Object: your name/last name + odissi

    CATALANO ELENA

    Account number: 81327234

    Sort code: 60-09-50

    IBAN: GB56NWBK60095081327234

  2. Send us an email (elenaodissi@gmail.com) to let us know that you have paid.

Please register early to avoid disappointment. Booking is not transferable and we cannot reimburse the fee once paid. Payment should be done before the session/start of the term. When booking multiple workshops, these are intended as consecutive.

Please contact us if you have any question or special circumstances.

THANK YOU!!


Online Offer

REPERTOIRE (ARABI PALLAVI)

Level: Intermediate-Upper Intermediate

When: Learn at your own pace, wherever your are

Where:

  • Online: 6 Pre-recorded Sessions

Teacher: Dr Elena Catalano (contact: elenaodissi@gmail.com)

Fee: £90

Upon registration you will receive link to learning resources accessible through a password on this website.


Learning Archive

Access to Past Courses Recordings

If you would like to study another item at your own time, we can offer access to recordings and learning resources of previous courses delivered online. You can then book tutorials to receive personal feedback if you wish

Items available are:

  • Hari Riha/Chandana Charchita Abhinaya from Geetagovinda

  • Saveri Pallavi

  • Namo Devi Mangalacharan

  • Pashyati Dishi Dishi Abhinaya from Geetagovinda

  • Vakratunda Mahakayam

Fee: £90 (access to all videos + learning resources (music notation, music for practice, dance memo videos, information on the item)

Music: £35

Items Archive Access

Music:

(Please drop us a message at elenaodissi@gmail.com to specify which item from the archive would you want the music for, before completing the purchase. Please notice we only sell music to people who have learned the item with us or purchased the archived resources. Music shall be used for individual practice only. For public performances, please book a tutorial to check you know item to a reasonable standard.

All the above classes are aimed at the serious student who wants to delve into the spiritual depth and beauty of this art form. The beginner sessions are open to those who are new to Odissi and would like to try. Please be mindful that it takes a few months for an initiated body to start savouring the aesthetic fulfilment that this dance brings within. Give it time!