A type of sacred dance practiced in India for thousands of years was in danger of dying out in the mid 20th century, a victim of the rush to modernity and independence. For the last decade one Indian woman has worked tirelessly to revive the mahari style of Orissi dance, and she brings the dance to Bainbridge Island Nov. 6.

Bainbridge Performing Arts brings Ratna Roy and the Urvasi Dance Company, practitioners of the classic Odissi (or Orissi) dance to the island Nov. 6-8 for a public show at The Playhouse and a student outreach show Nov. 8.

Roy, artistic director of the company, earned a Ph.D in English before turning her attention to the traditions of Orissi. As a Fulbright Advanced Research Scholar she studied the Orissi Renaissance and experienced firsthand its rediscovery. She then went to India as an American Institute of Indian Studies Fellowship Scholar to research the indigenous theater traditions of Orissa, the region for which the dance is named.

While the male style of Orissi was touted as “the” style of the traditional dance during the revival, the women’s mahari style was still suppressed.

According to Roy, the mahari, or temple, style is characterized by the “blending of spirituality and sensuousness as well as the extremely (lyrical) upper torso movement.”

The dances are “woman-centered,” either the Mother Goddess herself or famous women from the epics of India, Roy writes in a description on her Web site.

Roy was instructed in the mahari dance style by the son of a temple dancer, who taught her a series of five dances he created called “Five Women.”

Roy and the Urvasi Dancers have performed around the world, working to preserve and spread this ancient form of dance.

She is also a professor of expressive arts and literature at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.

The Urvasi Dance Company performs 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at The Playhouse, 200 Madison Ave. N, Bainbridge Island, as part of the Bainbridge Performing Arts International Series.

They also perform two student outreach shows at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Nov. 8.

Tickets for the Nov. 6 show are $15 adults, $10 seniors, military, students and youth, $25 per family. Tickets for the Nov. 8 shows are $5 per person, groups of 25 or more receive five complimentary tickets. There are a limited number of tickets available to the general public for the Student Outreach shows, as most are purchased by school groups.

Tickets are available at the box office, by phone at (206) 842-8569 or online at www.theplayhouse.org.