Indian Culture - Folk Dances of India

a) India is a repository of an amazing wealth of folk traditions.

b) Folk forms dance, music or painting and have close links with functions of daily life like sowing, harvesting and hunting.

c) Tribal and folk dances of India provide the thread of continuity between the distant past and the present and reveal he most sophisticated expression of human experience and emotion..

 

5) Gotipua -is a dance of Orissa which is performed by male dancers acting as women. The dance displays the compositions of yogic postures and creating the images of the Radha-Krishna.


6) Gidda - is a popular dance among the women of Punjab and is performed on the occasion of weddings, birth of a male child, during the Teej festival and other happy occasions. The dance is accompanied by the dholak or the rhythmic striking of the gharha (pitcher) and is performed by forming a circle singing boli turnwise by the each pair.

7) Manganiyar and Kalbelia - are performed by the nomadic singers from the deserts of Rajasthan. The dance is performed by women of the snake-charmer community on festive occasions to the melody of the Been.

8) Karagam - is the popular dance of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Performers carry decorated and vertically piled vessels on their heads and dance energetically to the tune of the nadaswaram.

9) Bihu - is a very famous dance from Assam and is performed during the festival by the entire village community. The dance begins in a slow tempo and gradually quickens depicting cultivation.

10) Dhanush Nritya - is performed by the tribal of Madhya Pradesh by using the bow and arrow.

11) Baul - is a musical dance of West Bengal combining the Vaishnav cult. The performers dance and sing in the memory of Bengali Sufi poet, Laalan Faqir.

12) Dollu Kunitha - is a powerful drumming dance of Karnaka which is performed by the men folk of shepherd community called Kourkas.

13) Ghoomer - is a traditional dance which belongs to the Haryana-Rajasthan border. Young women and girls form semi circles and start singing and clapping. It is performed during the festivals of Holi, Gangaur, Teej and Navratri.

14) Purulia Chhau - is a dance drama drawing its themes from the two epics, Mahabharata and Ramayana. In the dance, the fight between good and evil culminates in the victory of good over evil. The rhythmic drum  beatings and the sound of the shehnai makes the dance distinctive. It is a dance drama of Westbengal/ Jharkhand.

15) Dhangari Ovi - is a dance of Maharashtra, where the dhangars (shepherds) dance with colourful handkerchiefs in their hands around a group of drum players, to please their God Biruba and to ask for his blessings.

16) Bhangra - is a exuberant dance form of Punjab with its powerful rhythem and music linked to the celebration of harvest. The dance starts on a slow tempo and soon takes powerful and full swing around the drummer at the centre. The rhythm quickens and the dancers are inspired to perform various aerobatic feats.

17) Siddi Dhamal - is a dance of Gujarat where performers are dressed in grass skirts and adorned with peacock feathers. The dance is performed on the eve of the Urs of their prophet Baba Gaur. The dancers perform various feats of skill. The climax of the dancers culminates in the Siddhis tossing coconuts in the air only to break them on their heads.