The essence of Odissi lies in its sculpturesque quality; most of its beautiful poses bear close resemblance with the sculptures of the famous temples, which once nourished the art. This dance form demands tremendous physical fitness but also lays equal emphasis on sensitive facial expression more on the swatika bhava. The movements are so vigorous that it makes the dancer emotional, tired and exhausted. He falls in to a trance or becomes senseless at the end of the performance. So this style of dance maintains a perfect balance between physical, mental and spiritual aspects of dance.

The Odissi dancers use their head, chest and upper body in soft flowing movements to express specific moods and emotions. There are a number of characteristics of the Odissi dance. The style may be seen as a combination of appreciative and technical details. Odissi is characterized by flowing of the upper body (the waves of the ocean on the shores of Puri) and gracefulness in gestures and wristwork (swaying of the palms), adjoining with firm footwork (heartbeat of Mother Earth). All classical Indian dance forms include both pure rhythmic dances and acting or story dances. The rhythmic dances of Odissi are called batu/sthayi (foundation), pallavi (flowering), and moksha (liberation). The acting dances are called abhinaya. Odissi is an expressive and sophisticated art form, which features poetic touch and imaginary storytelling.

The technique of Odissi is based upon the "Chowka", a manly posture, and the weight of the body is distributed equally on both the sides. It is the posture of Lord Jagannath of Puri and reflects the balanced, all-encompassing and universal quality of "dharma" of Lord Jagannath. It is a "Sambhanga" or equally distributed position in terms of weight. Next comes the "Abhanga" position, in which body weight is displaced to any one side due to deflection of one or the other knee, in either standing or half sitting posture.

Then comes the "Tribhanga" position, the three-bend posture, in which a series of triangles are formed in the body. The bends are made at the knees, the torso and the neck. It is an extremely feminine posture represented in sculptures of female figures and is based upon the Hindu concept of iconography. This posture and the characteristic shifting of the upper body from side to side, make Odissi a difficult style to execute. When mastered, it is the abstract of flowing grace and has a distinctively lyrical quality that is very appealing.

In Odissi, the body position is not merely a part of the vocabulary or framework. The posture by itself conveys a particular mood or message. The names of these postures too express the moods they represent. Some of the special positions, basic steps and movements executed in Odissi technique are briefly discussed here.

The 3 main positions from which the foot movement emerges are:
1. Samapada - the standing equibalanced equivated erect position.
2. Tribhanga - this is rarely seen in other classical dance, forms is one of the most typical poses of Odissi. It is achieved by a sharp deflection of the hip from the waist, an opposite deflection of the torso, and the head deflecting to the same side as the hip. It is also knowns as the Natavara bhangi in Orissi dancing.
3. Chauka - In Chauka the heels face the centre, the toe points outwards and there is a distance of about two feet between the two heels. The knees are out-turned and the thighs are bent.
4. Khandi and Arasas - Khandi is the smallest unit of movement. It is the beginning of movement from either the standing position in the samapada or the tribhangi or the chauka. The khandis are primary movements beginning with categories; place, exploring space in all directions. Some are based only on the samapada and Tribhanga, whereas the others combine samapada, tribhanga and the chauka. All are executed to the accompaniment of mnemonics called Ukkata. They are executed in a given metrical cycle of 4,5,6,7,8 or 9 beats. Dividing 8th beat cycle into different segments; eg- 4,2 and 2; or 3,3 and 2; or 3,4 and 1 can bring further refinement. Each time a new movement emerges.

Arasas is the next unit comprising of the khandis. The khandis are used in various combinations and permutations to form Arasas just like various Adavus form Tirmanams in BharatNatyam. The principle is the same, beginning with the smallest unit, combinations are made of words and phrases and then sentences; all contained within the parameters of the metrical cycle.

5. Belis and Palis : Khandis and Arasas are used to form dances sequencs called the Belis and Palis. Belis are longer sections of nritta whereas the Palis are the finale sequences, which are in triplets like the tihais in BharatNatyam.

Movement Patterns
The Orissan texts have mentioned various movement patterns, some of which are seen and practised and some have become obsolete.
1. Minadandi: Literally meaning covering space likes space. This involves a semicircular walk or the covering of space by one leg more specifically the calf in semicircles, returning back to centre. The other half of the body is static. Other foot or leg repeats the same.
2. Ghera: This involves covering of space in circles, half circles, semi-circles and concentric circles. These are the movements emerging from Tribhangi, Baitha and Chauka. There are various movements, which arise out the Tribhangi keeping one half of the body static and the other leg extending in different directions like back, front and sides. In movements emerging from Baitha, one foot and knee are in contact with the ground whereas the other leg is extended to the side or back. In movements emerging from Chauka, the feet are static and only the torso can move or a complete piroutte can be executed holding the chauka position.
3. Charis: Abhinaya Chandrika mentions other types of movemets, one of them being the charis. There are ekpada Chari and dvipada charis.
4. Bhramaris: Bhramaris are the spins and the pirouttes executed from the three positions: Tribhangi, Samapada and Chauka, both clockwise and anti-clockwise. There are various Bhramaris depending on their foot contact at the initil position and the final movement or their level of elevations of the knee and the direction of the pirouttes. For eg: Utpluta bhramari, viparita bhrmari, antar bhramari and the simple bhramari.