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Chapter 15

Dances of Our La

Let’s start our dance journey! Get ready to put on your dancing bells and dive into the world of dance!  

Dances of Our Land: Exploring Local Rhythms and Movements  

This chapter is all about discovering the great dance forms that make our country colourful and lively.

Let’s take a closer look at the dance forms that are present in your surrounding.

In this activity, you are going to discover the dances that belong to your region. From the rich traditional loka nrityas to the energetic beats of local celebrations, these dances are deeply rooted in our society.

Get ready to discover the dance forms that exhibit the spirit of your region, and make the dance floor come alive with rhythm and joy!


Activity 1: Exploring Regional Dances

List out the names of different regional dances in your region. Discuss it with your friends, parents and teachers.

Choose any regional dance and conduct a field trip to visit the local artists. You can also watch their videos.

If possible, conduct a small workshop with them, and find out the ideas and purpose behind the local dance form.

Try to learn the postures, gestures and the graceful movements of the same.

In this way, you can have an exciting journey of your own regional dance forms.

Observe the splendid swirls, beautiful twists, magnificient movements, graceful steps, colourful costumes and cathartic emotions of the dance which is a bundle of positive energy.

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Garba dance from Gujarat
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Tabla
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Dhol
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Dandia sticks

Examples

The method of recording observations of the dance form during a field trip.

Garba Dance from Gujarat

A. Introduction

Thisdanceformisperformedduring the festival of Navaratri wherein Goddess Durga is worshipped. This dance is a celebration of culture and tradition along with the exhibition of community spirit and togetherness.

B. Characteristics of Dance

• Vibrant and energetic movements.

• Rhythmic clapping.

• Circular patterns created by dancers moving in concentric circles.

C. Accompainments

• Traditional folk music.

• Instruments like dhol (drum), tabla and dandia sticks.

D. Costumes

• Chaniya cholis (gagra) for women.

• Kediyu-kafni (a type of dhoti and kurta) for men.


Exploring Other Dance Forms

Here, you are going to explore the local dance forms of other regions of our country.

In this dance journey, instead of learning a single local dance form, you will also be exploring other dance forms.


Activity 2: Exploring other Dance Forms

Watch videos of other regional dance forms. 

 Come on … sit together and have a fruitful discussion regarding dance of other regions.


States
 Name of the Dance Accompa-
inments
 Costumes
 Occassion of Dance
Kerala
 Thiruvathira Kali: performed by women.

Graceful rhythmic dance with claps accompained by a folk song.

Simple 

Kerela

style 

costume

of Mundu

and

Vesthi,

with

traditional

Kerela

ornaments.

On occasion of

Thruvathira,

Shivratri, Onam

and some other

festivals.
Odisha

Saila: performed

by tribal

community.

Dhol (barrel-shaped

drum), 

nagara

(kettle 

drum) 

and

flute.

Colorful sarees

and dhotis,

tribal jewellery

beads, 

shells

and metal

ornaments.

On occasion of

Chaitra Parva

festival in the

beginning of

agricultural

season.
Kashmir

Rouf: performed

by women

in a

group.

Tumbaknari (a

small kettle drum),

rabab (a stringed

instrument) and

harmonium.

Kashmiri attire

pheran (loose,

long robe)

with colourful

embroidered

dress, jewels:

earrings,

neckless and

bangles.

Performed

during Eid,

Baisakhi and

Navroz, as well

as weddings,

harvest

celebrations

and other social

gatherings.

List down the states of our country with their respective dance forms. Some of the states have been shown here as an illustration.

You can arrange the information of different dance forms of various regions in a tabular form. Amazing! Well done. Let’s move to the next level of our dance journey.

Comparison of Regional Dance Forms

In your dance journey, you may have come across many local dance forms. Going to the higher level, compare and contrast the local dance forms of your region with that of the other regions.

States
 Name of the Dance
 Accompainments
 Costumes
 Occassion of Dance















Activity 3: Comparison of Regional Dance Forms

Suppose you belong to Rajasthan and choose the local Kalbelia dance form. Now, compare this with another local dance called Nongkrem dance of Meghalaya. 

Dance Form
 Kalbelia
 Nongkrem

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State Rajasthan Meghalaya
Costume Women wear upper body cloth (angrakhi), head cloth (odhani) and lower body parts (lehenga) embroidered with small mirrors.  
 Women wear traditional costumes while men are often adorned with vibrant colours holding swords and white yak hair whisk.  
Purpose Associated with rituals, often depicting mythological stories. Special dances are performed during Holi.  
 Celebrated during autumn to please the powerful Goddess for plentiful harvest and prosperity of people.  
Performers Dance by women and song by men.  
 Both men and women.  
Accompainments
 Accompanied by traditional folk music and woodwind instruments pungi, percussion instruments dufli, been and khanjira.  
 Accompanied by traditional music including the drum and wind instrument tangmuri.  



Dance Form

State

Costume

Purpose

Performers

Accompainments




Activity 4: Project on Regional Dance Form


Do you remember Activity 1, where a field trip was conducted for studying the local dance forms?
Prepare a project on a local dance form by drawing or pasting related pictures. Choose a folk song (related
to dance) and make a note of it. Paste the handmade craft models of jewels belonging to a particular dance form.
Finally, present your project in front of all teachers and friends.

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Activity 5: Notes on Renowned Dancers


Write a brief note on renowned modern Indian dancers of your choice. Write creatively and paste pictures. Along this activity, try to imitate the moves, postures and gestures of the renowned dancer.

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