School: LAKSHMIPAT SINGHANIA PUBLIC SCHOOL
    JAYKAYPUR, ODISHA, INDIA

25 students, ages 13 years-17 years worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 8, 2020. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2018, 2019

Classes and Teachers: PRADIPTA KISHORE PANIGRAHY, N. PADMANABHA SWAMY, SAMARENDRA SWAIN, M. APPALA RAJU RAO, P. SRILATHA and students of class 8, 9 and 11

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://www.lspublicschooljk.com

1. Description of Our Community

To the eastern coast of the Indian landmass, there lies a land of art… a land of culture… a land of festivals… a land of devotion… and a land of peace. It is a place decorated by forests, waterfalls, terraced valleys and darting springs; where nature unfurls her one of the most beauteous aspects. Often referred as the Soul of Incredible India, Odisha is a place endowed with rich and vibrant cultural heritage in the form of historical monuments, temples, monasteries,sculptures, traditional arts, music, dance and its peace-loving people. It is a destination which not only offers a visual feast for the inquisitive visitors but also a highly educative and culturally pleasing insight into one of the oldest civilizations of the world. We hail from Jaykaypur, a small town-let in the tribal district of Rayagada located to the south-west of this state. Our local community is a perfect blend of tribal societies and sophisticated industries.With the establishment of JK Paper Mills, Jaykaypur has emerged as a well-developed industrial area. The serene environment, industrial culture and railway connectivity to all the metropolitan cities of India has brought in people from diverse communities and has prompted this place to the edge of prosperity. In fact, there are so many diversities that the place may be called a Mini India. We are proud to be a part of this wonderful community.

2. Summary of Our Project

With the earnest honor and pleasure, we the students of LAKSHMIPAT SINGHANIA PUBLIC SCHOOL have come up with this Cyberfair project with the objective of providing an insight into one of the most popular classical dance forms of India- ODISSI through this website. Since ages, Dance has traditionally been an important part of religion and culture in India. India is comprised of many different religions and regions, and hence has a tremendous diversity in the expression of dance. India has been enlightened with an abundance of rich cultural dance forms. Out of these, Odissi has significantly touched not only the heart of the Indians but also has been applauded at international standards. Odissi dance primarily originated from the temples of Odisha with the silent looks of idols. Odissi is a very complex and expressive dance, with a wide variety of symbolic gestures and body movements. Odissi is appreciated for its graceful, artistic and lyrical dance style. It is a perfect example of great body movements, expressions, and gestures. Being from Odisha, it is a matter of great pride to describe its native classial dance and bring forth this project.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:4-6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

“A good internet connection provided by the school helped us to collaborate with various community members while working on this project. With the help of a computer, we were able to collect various relevant information which helped us to accomplish our project on time.”

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

Our project on Odissi dance was a challenging task that required in depth knowledge of the subject matter, planning, care, and hard work. We were engrossed in the collection of materialistic requirements like costumes, various accessories related to this danceform ,its soul stirring posters and other clippings. We found difficult to remain inclined towards this project during our examinations. We initially lacked proper communication within our teammates and teachers. Availability of sources involving the detailed history of Odissi dance was a cause of vexation. Moreover, the 2019-20 pandemic of corona virus (COVID- 19) led to significant social disruption adversely affecting the progress of our work. On 16 March, our honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ordered the closure of all educational institutes throughout the nation. As a result, we were forced to work from our home. We handled this problem by collaborating among ourselves via Whatsapp communications. We tackled all these challenges with a sense of optimism which led to the success of our project.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

A person without the knowledge of his tradition and culture is like a tree without roots. Today, in this era of modernization our tradition has been watered down by western culture. The younger generations need to take pride in preserving their culture. This is the only way to revive our rich culture. Our project is an endeavor to promote a charming cultural classical dance – Odissi. This dance form must speak to the new generation its age-old yet superior tradition so that they realize the importance of culture. Our project serves as an astounding medium for classical dance to be seen as a way to define India's culture identity. Let us build our culture on a solid rock that cannot be broken. Remember the Past, Create the Present, Inspire the Future!

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Our project addresses high content and curriculum standards. It helped us learn new concepts, increase our thinking skills, learn how to do research and many more. • It helped us to imbibe a sense of spirituality and honor for our culture within us. • CBSE (central board of secondary education) has set some guidelines to acquaint the students with the literary and historical background of the Indian performing arts. Subjects like music and dance has been added to the school syllabus. The art disciplines of our regular curriculum helped us to relate with the historical accounts of Odissi. • Besides the contents of the website we learned to cooperate with others, work in detail, and become responsible. The experience of cyberfair made the students initiative learners. • Yes, using Internet has been a more effective method than traditional methods as it gave a variety of options to explore and discover about whatever aspect we want to. It was a pleasure for us to explore the details of Odissi from various aspects like, teachers, our curriculum, local artists and many students who were trained by Odissi dancers. Each one of us was able to understand how to gather and collect information, how to spread the values associated with Odissi in our community and school, how to enhance our social and technical expertise and a lot more. It was the biggest reward to us.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We have used 6 computers, 4 laptops and smartphones for communicating, compiling, processing, and transferring required information for designing the website. Digital video cameras were used to capture the visual data required for our project. Telephones and mobile phones were used to contact associates and gather information. The internet has extensively helped to come across vast resources from which we gathered relevant information for our concerned project. Social media (especially whatsapp) acted as a common point for our team members to communicate, share their ideas and work collaboratively from their own homes.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

Members of the Cyberfair team provided the interested students of primary classes some basic knowledge about Indian classical dance, with a special focus on Odissi. The students were very excited throughout the interaction session and were curious to know more. Further, we approached the local Odissi guru (teacher) Shri Trilochan Sahoo to pile up in-depth knowledge of the dance form and he showed us the right path to accomplish our project. He also suggested us to interact with a professional Odissi dancer – Swarnaprabha Patra. She shared her marvelous journey from being a student of this classical dance form to a recognized expert. It is a matter of pride and honor for her to perform Odissi dance on an international platform. She has set an exemplary benchmark for the artists. She thanked us for selecting Odissi as the topic for an international research project. This motivated us to put forth the heritage of Odisha through Odissi. The act of promoting the gracefulness of Odissi was not only limited to the students but also Mrs. Vandana Nanda one of our teachers who is a trained Odissi dancer played a pivotal role in this regard. Our journey of being the ambassadors for this project in this international platform, enriched us to propagate this passion and dedication for our rich culture throughout the times to come. We hope that this research will let the world know and recollect the importance of Local culture and dance forms.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Our project on ‘Odissi Dance’ has helped the people to widen their knowledge about the rich culture and beauty of Odissi. In this evolutionary period, people in our community encourage and commend on modern dancers. They get attracted to the Operandi of the western dance but working on the project has helped us to create a keen interest within the community such that the young generation and the tiny toddlers have started learning and practicing Odissi. It substitutes the traditional Guru-Shishya or master-disciple relationship even in this modern era. Not only odissi but all the other traditional dance forms create a productive space that can help the youth generation to understand how the customs of classical dances embody cultural memory of our vivid country ‘INDIA’ . It opens the door of innovation for the community to unfurl their dancing skills. It expresses different religious stories and spiritual ideas which forms a strong foundation for the revival of our culture. Odissi performances also conveys the message of unity through the decorum of the dance style. Many people other than school students have viewed our website and also suggested to take some more videos, photos of Odissi dancers.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

The assistance provided by our experienced and committed teachers and faculties was invaluable in helping our project get everything done in a very timely manner. We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to our Principal and the management committee who motivated and provided us this golden opportunity to carry forward this project. Our parents stayed as the pillars of strength with us whenever we required their help, opinions, and support. We are grateful to our friends who motivated us throughout this enlightening journey. We consulted many artists via email and phone. We had both auditory and visual interaction with those artists. Many of them had provided us valuable information concerning our endeavours. We gathered a lot of information about the evolution and history of Odissi with the passing ages. We were taught about the significance that it carries in its existence. The odissi guru Shri Trilochan Sahoo served to be an abode of knowledge and information and guided us throughout this project.

5) Discoveries, Lessons and Surprises (Optional)

An active exploration of any topic fills one with knowledge. In a world that seems too big to comprehend this project has offered a remarkable opportunity to conduct research on the home ground about this sensuous dance- ODISSI. As a part of the learning experience, we came to discover so much about Odissi like the different history, mudras, themes, music involved, the costumes used, etc. in Odissi dance. Apart from all these, this project has provided a dynamic approach in acknowledging us with the immense power of collaborative work. We came to realize that “Unity is strength' where there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.