Gotipua, an Oriya etymon means a single boy. A dance which is performed by a single boy dancer in female costume is known as Gotipua dance. When the dance of the Maharis slowly disintegrated due to various reasons, the class of these boy dancers was started to carry out the tradition & it is largely from them that the present form of Odissi dance has been revived. It is acknowledged that most of the present Odissi gurus were Gotipua dancers in their early days.

Though it is not known how & when these boy dancers came in, it is certain that they did not appear till 17th century A.D. as we don't find any record or reference to this dance in form. The Gotipua dance appears to have originated in the reign of Prataprudradeva (A.D.1497-1540) and gained popularity in the subsequent Muslim period on account of the rigidity of the Purdah system which led to the seclusion of women and made their presence scarce on the festive occasions. But this contention does not seem sound as the reign of Prataprudradeva saw the reorientation of Devdassi-dancing in the temple of lord Jagannath. Some are of opinion that Ramananda Ray, the Vaishnavite minister of Prataprudradeva is the originator of this class of boy dancers. This contention also appears acceptable as there are elaborate description in religious texts about the activities of Ramananda in the field of dance, drama & music and that the devadassis of the temple of Jagannath alone remained his disciples. There is no evidence whatsoever of Ramananda having introduced boy dancers in the temple in place of women. The Gotipua dancers are never allowed to dance inside the temple. Only on some festive occasions they are specially allowed to perform in the temple precincts.

A Gotipua party consists of four or five members and the guru always remains in charge of it. The guru also sings & plays on the harmonium. Other members are two accompanists i.e., a madala player & a ginni player, and one or two boy dancers. The dance of the Gotipuas is in Odissi style, but their technique, costume & all presentations differ from that of Maharis. The songs are generally compositions of Vaisnava poets of Orissa on the alliance of Radha & Krishna.

             During the closing years of the last century, the dance of the Gotipuas came to be much influenced by the decadent Sakhi Nacha of the southern district of Orissa. The Sakhi Nacha which was also performed by boys in female costume was an imitation of the voluptuous dance of the devadasis who belonged to the adjoining Telugu regions. The Sakhi Nacha had a lasting influence on the dance of the Gotipuas.

The most interesting item in a Gotipua dance performance is Bandha Nrutya. Though strictly not an item of Odissi, it is still performed by the Gotipuas and few girl artists of Orissa. Bandha Nrutya is a dance with acrobatic poses and movements. The difficult & intricate poses of the body with supping of various limbs are known as Bandha in Oriya, so the dance with these poses is called Bandha Nrutya.

Abhinaya Chandrika, a treatise on Odissi dance states that Bandha Nrutya is very difficult & painful to the danseuse. It is only possible during the period of  adolescence and becomes difficult after youth. While the western ballet has retained its acrobatic features, in Orissa the tradition is dying out. Now the modern tendency is to relinquish whatever is strenuous, difficult & time taking.