Odissi dance and music has lured many to this sacred land of Lord Jagannath. Like other aspects of the culture, the Odissi music is charming, colurful, variegated encompassing various types. But it has not come to limelight due to apathy from the time of British rule in Orissa, want of its proper study, revival, propagation, etc. The existing musical tradition of Orissa, the cumulative experience of the last two thousand five hundred years if not more, can broadly be grouped under five categories such as : (1) Tribal Music, (2) Folk Music, (3) Light Music, (4) Light-Classical Music, (5) Classical Music.

Odissi Dance is the classical form of dance that originated in the ambience of the temples. It is a lyrical form of dance with its subtlety as its keynote. The intimate relationship experienced between the poetry and music in Odissi is a feature on which the aesthetics of the style is built. Odissi bases itself on a wealth of systematized techniques which make this dance aesthetically appealing and visually delightful. It is a "sculpturesque" style of dance with a harmony of line and movement, all its own. What is interesting about Odissi is that body position is not merely a part of the vocabulary or frame-work. The posture by itself conveys a particular mood or message. The names of these postures too express the moods they represent.

Dance is an expression of man's joy through rhythmic and spontaneous movements, and this is pretty evident from the numerous traditional dance forms existing in Orissa. To name a few - Chhau Dance, Danda Dance, Ghoomra Dance, Animal Mask Dance, Kathi Dance, Kedu Dance, Ranapa Dance, Paika Dance, and various Tribal Dances. There are also a number of performances like Pala, Daskathia, and others like the circus-like Baunsa Rani which form an intrinsic part of Orissa.

The Tribals who constitute about one fourth of the total population of Orissa have many dances of secular, religious and seasonal in character. Living in the midst of nature their dances and songs are vivid, temperamental and attuned to nature herself. Nature is always the strongest inspiration for them, coupled with the customs and religious heritage.

The colourful spring time dance of the Santals with their musical instrument, Madal performed by the maidens, their pastoral dance during ripening of grain, the dance of the Kolha at the time of planting of the seeds in honour of their deity performed by men and women, the dances of the Gonds done in dedication to their deity Bhimsen at harvesting festival time, marriage celebrations accompanied by several musical instruments like the horned-drums, flutes and clarionets, the spring dance of the Bhattara with beautiful dresses, silver ornaments of women, flushed as they move and the colourful turbans of the men stuck with peacock feathers, the Sua dance of the Sambalpur tribes performed by the young girls in the spirit of adventure and romance accompanied by drummers and musicians, the ring dance of the Oraon performed during all festivals and in the spring and autumn seasons in a circle, the women dancers placing their arms at the back of their neighbours and clasping the hands of the next, the courtship dances of Ho, the Jhadia paraja dance exhibiting graceful movement and artistic skill, the colourful dance of the Gadaba, the dance of the Koyas with the head-dress of Bison horn, the women in colourful attire with iron sticks in hands making a jingling sound in accompaniment of musical instruments, the dance of the Kutia Kandha with the single stringed dungadunga, the peacock, sparrow, vulture, deer dances of Juang to the tune of their musical instrument, Changu and Badakatha, and a wide variety of dances clearly give an idea how the culture of the tribals born out of nature and attuned to nature can live and flourish spontaneously. These are just a few representative examples of the tribal dances of Orissa. The tribal dance itself is vast in variety indicating their importance in the social and religious life of the people.