Demsa Dancer, India

Photograph by Kieron Nelson

Orissa, India. Behind a ramshackle cluster of market stalls an impromptu Demsa dance was in full swing. The women danced in semicircles while the men played musical instruments. Suddenly, the crowd stopped clapping. A young man, his face painted a vivid blue, stood in the middle of the circle. He vanished into the multitude, only to reappear like a deity on the shoulders of two men. The dancing started again with the banging of drums as he was spun in a circle to the delight of the crowd.

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