Smashing Patriarchy: The Women Behind India’s Chhau dance Smashing Patriarchy: The Women Behind India’s Chhau dance Comments Off on Smashing Patriarchy: The Women Behind India’s Chhau dance KOLKATA — The year was 1979. Ileana Citaristi, an Italy-born Odissi exponent, had just arrived in India. She was visiting Delhi as her Odissi (a classical Indian dance form) trainer, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, was conducting workshops in the Indian capital. One day, she walked into a room at Delhi’s Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (an Indian cultural institution) and was mesmerized by an Indian woman dancing beautifully. “An old man was also there, playing the drum,” remembers Citaristi, “I didn’t know which dance form she was practising. The performers then explained to me that she was performing Chhau from Odisha.”