[5] The theoretical foundations of Odissi trace to the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, its existence in antiquity evidenced by the dance poses in the sculptures of Kalingan temples,[1][6] and archeological sites related to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

[8] Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artist(s) and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes,[12] body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature.

Odissi is learnt and performed as a composite of basic dance motif called the Bhangas (symmetric body bends, stance).

It involves lower (footwork), mid (torso) and upper (hand and head) body as three sources of perfecting expression and audience engagement with geometric symmetry and rhythmic musical resonance.

[6] Modern Odissi productions by Indian artists have presented a diverse range of experimental ideas, culture fusion, themes and plays.

[29] More direct historical evidence of dance and music as an ancient performance art are found in archaeological sites such as caves and in temple carvings of Bhubaneswar, Konark and Puri.

[21][30] The Manchapuri cave in Udayagiri shows carvings of dance and musicians, and this has been dated to the time of Jain king Kharavela in the first or second century BCE.

[34][35] The Hindu, Jain and Buddhist archaeological sites in Odisha state, particularly the Assia range of hills show inscriptions and carvings of dances that are dated to the 6th to 9th century CE.

[36][37] Historical evidence, states Alexandra Carter, shows that Odissi Maharis (Hindu temple dancers) and dance halls architecture (nata-mandapa) were in vogue at least by the 9th century CE.

[38] According to Kapila Vatsyayan, the Kalpasutra of Jainism, in its manuscripts discovered in Gujarat, includes classical Indian dance poses – such as the Samapada, the Tribhangi and the Chauka of Odissi.

This, states Vatsyayan, suggests that Odissi was admired or at least well known in distant parts of India, far from Odisha in the medieval era, to be included in the margins of an important Jain text.

[42] Actual sculptures that have survived into the modern era and panel reliefs in Odia temples, dated to be from the 10th to 14th century, show Odissi dance.

[5][43] After 12th-century, Odia temples, monasteries and nearby institutions such as the Puspagiri in the eastern Indian subcontinent came under waves of attacks and ransacking by Muslim armies, a turmoil that impacted all arts and eroded the freedoms previously enjoyed by performance artists.

[46] This expansion integrated martial arts (akhanda) and athletics into Odissi dance, by engaging boys and youth called Gotipuas, as a means to physically train the young for the military and to resist foreign invasions.

[11][48][49] In 1872, a British civil servant named William Hunter watched a performance at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, then wrote, "Indecent ceremonies disgraced the ritual, and dancing girls with rolling eyes put the modest worshipper to the blush...", and then attacked them as idol-worshipping prostitutes who expressed their devotion with "airy gyrations".

[46] The temple dance ban and cultural discrimination during colonial rule marshalled a movement by Hindus to question the stereotypes and to revive the regional arts of India, including Odissi.

[54] Odissi, along with several other major Indian dances gained recognition after efforts by many scholars and performers in the 1950s, particularly by Kavichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak, an Oriya poet, dramatist and researcher.

[46] Modern Odissi is a diversified performance art, men have joined the women, and its reconstruction since the 1950s have added new plays and aspects of other Indian dances.

This theme is expressed through sensuous love poems and metaphors of sexual union in Krishna-related literature, and as longing eros (Shringara) in its dance arts such as in Odissi, from the early times.

[46][58] Hinduism, states Judith Hanna, encourages the artist to "strive to suggest, reveal or re-create the infinite, divine self", and art is considered as "the supreme means of realizing the Universal Being".

[60] This aspect of Odissi dancing has been subdued in the modern post-colonial reconstructions, states Alexandra Carter, and the emphasis has expanded to "expressions of personal artistic excellence as ritualized spiritual articulations".

[16] The invocation also includes Trikhandi Pranam or the three-fold salutation – to the devas (gods), to the gurus (teachers) and to the lokas or rasikas (fellow dancers and audience).

[16][66] The dancer(s) communicate the story in a sign language, using mudras (hand gestures), bhavas (enacting mood, emotions), eye and body movement.

This dance movement traditionally attempts to convey a sense of spiritual release and soul liberation, soaring into the realm of pure aesthetics.

[72] Like all classical dances of India, the aim of Odissi is in part to convey emotions, mood and inner feelings in the story by appropriate hand and facial gestures.

[41][72] These are subdivided into three, according to the traditional texts:[72] The Mudra system is derived from the "Abhinaya Darpana" by Nandikeshavara and the ancient Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni.

[74][76] The hairstyle may contain a moon shaped crest of white flowers,[74] or a reed crown called mukoot with peacock feathers (symbolism for Krishna).

Modern Odissi male performers wear dhoti – a broadcloth tied around waist, pleated for movement, and tucked between legs; usually extends to knee or lower.

Upper body is bare chested, and a long thin folded translucent sheet wrapping over one shoulder and usually tucked below a wide belt.

The primary Odissi mela ragas are Kalyana, Nata, Sri, Baradi, Gouri, Panchama, Dhanasri, Karnata, Bhairabi and Sokabaradi.