Welcome to Bhumi

Founded by Elena Catalano in 2017 and based in London, Bhumi’s ambition is to promote and establish Odissi dance as a contemporary practice, rooted in traditional principles, but constantly evolving through pedagogic, artistic and critical inquiry.

Benefiting from Elena’s extensive dance training and research and by her collaborators’ expertise, Bhumi is becoming a catalyst for new generations of dancers and is engaged in creative collaborations and the production of multimedia works. Led by the belief that dance is a practice that can empower people and positively affect their lives, Bhumi is also involved in educational, community and therapeutic settings, sharing the benefits of movement and creativity with society at large and with vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in particular.

Presently, Bhumi offers weekly classes for adults in Odissi and workshops for children, dance lovers, professional movers and community groups. Bhumi’s collaborators are artists and scholars with expertise in Yoga, Hindustani Music, Sanskrit, Indian Folk Painting and Physiotherapy.

Our Philosophy

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!

craft your Inner Light

through mindful gestures

and embodied imagination

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

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

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

We enhance our observation of our inner and outer world, 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 the all-pervading energy of life.

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 and challenging faces 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.

BHUMI Collaborators

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