An Odissi performance repertoire includes invocation, nritta (pure dance), nritya (expressive dance), natya (dance drama) and moksha (dance climax connoting freedom of the soul and spiritual release). It involves lower (footwork), mid (torso) and upper (hand and head) as three sources of perfecting expression and audience engagement with geometric symmetry and rhythmic musical resonance. Odissi is learnt and performed as a composite of basic dance motif called the Bhangas (symmetric body bends, stance). Classical Odia literature & the Gitagovinda set to traditional Odissi music are used for the abhinaya.

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, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature. The suppression was protested by the Indians, followed by its revival, reconstruction and expansion since India gained independence from the colonial rule. It was suppressed under the British Rule. 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 Odissi Hindu temples, and archeological sites related to Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma), Buddhism and Jainism. Odissi performances have also expressed ideas of other traditions such as those related to Hindu gods Shiva and Surya, as well as Hindu goddesses ( Shaktism). Odissi, in its history, was performed predominantly by women, and expressed religious stories and spiritual ideas, particularly of Vaishnavism. Odissi ( Odia: а¬“а¬Ўа¬ја¬їа¬¶аЂ), also referred to as Orissi in older literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temples of Odisha вЂ“ an eastern coastal state of India.

Odissi is a classical dance that originated in Orissa, India

Odia ganesh vandana lyrics