Rajasthan Dances

The dances of Rajasthan will surely make you also to tap a foot or two. The dances of Rajasthan are essentially folk dances tracing their origin to rural customs and traditions. What is more interesting is that keeping alive the numerous dance forms are not the professional dancers but the ordinary rural men & women of Rajasthan. The dancers practicing these dance forms are till date religiously following the age old traditions and there lies the beauty of these dances. Apart from the simple expressions and daring movements adding beauty to the dances are the vibrant colorful costumes the dancers wear. For the dancers of Rajasthan the Thar Desert is the centre stage which enhances the beauty of the dances at the backdrop of the setting sun. Some of the folk dances of Rajasthan are:

Kalbelia Dance
This ancient dance form is performed by the women of the Kalbelia community who by profession are Snake charmers and trade in snake venom. This ancient dance form has dance movements similar to the movements of the serpents and even the costumes are of black color. Interestingly the women also dance on the music produced by the 'Been' the instrument used to charm the snakes. This is an extremely sensuous dance form which completely enthralls the spectator.

Ghoomar Dance
Traditionally out of bound of the men this dance form was performed solely by Rajput women on auspicious occasions. Traditionally the women only perform it with their faces covered by a veil. They dance while singing traditional songs and perform the circular movements with amazing grace.

Chari Dance
This traditional dance form requires lot of skill and patience as this dance is done with pots on the head and lamps in the hand of the dancers. In such a state the dancers perform several flexible and graceful movements of the body. This dance is performed on gay occasions like marriage or birth of a child.

Kacchi-Ghodi Dance
The Kacchi-Ghodi or the dummy horse dance originated from the bandit regions of Shekhawati. The dancers are elaborately dressed and so are the dummy horses and perform sword fighting sequences with utmost vigor. A ballad singer usually sings the tales of chivalrous men. The dance form is usually performed on gay occasions.

Fire Dance
This is an extremely difficult dance to perform which is done by the Banjara community. The dance involves breathtaking fire stunts which the dancers perform by holding fire rods in their hands and filling up their mouths with kerosene. The fire rods are also moved on their heads and legs by the dancers.

Terah Taal (Thirteen Beat) Dance
The terah taal dance is a beautiful musical dance in which the dancers put manjeeras (little brass discs) on their waist, legs, hands and forehead at least at thirteen places on their body. This dance is performed as a kind of ritual to please Baba Ramdeo a local deity of Rajasthan.

Other Dances
Several other folk dances are performed by the local tribesmen of Rajasthan like the Drum dance, Jhoria, Matka-bhawai, Kathputli (puppet dance), Raika etc which are done on particular occasions and are associated with a particular tribe.