Folk Dances of Rajasthan

Dry and rugged terrain of Rajasthan against the backdrop of sand-dunes and scrub forests�force Rajasthani folks to extract the beauty of life out of the coarse struggles. And aesthetics say that performance art like dance is the best way to negotiate the hurdles of life and feast on the colorful. Perhaps that is why you will find the tourist sites in Rajasthan buzzing with the Rajasthani people who let themselves loose in a Dionysian revelry after a hard day's work under the unrelenting sun. While the evocative music plays the perfect setting, the dynamic and primitive folk dances in Rajasthan breaks forth from the stillness of the desert evening and invites the short-lived rainy season or the colorful spring.

You should realize that tourism in Rajasthan loses its color without the savor of folk dances of Rajasthan . Rajasthan grew as a haven of various folk art forms under the patronage of royalties and the folks look forward to numerous fairs and festival to melt in the merriment.

•  Ghoomar is a community dance for women, which is performed on auspicious occasions. Derived from the word ghoomna, this dance shows women with veil-covered faces, moving gently in circles so that the spirit of any auspicious occasion can be conveyed.

• Gair Ghoomar is one of the many dance-forms of the Bhil tribals, which is performed during Holi festival .Men perform dances in Gair on Holi. Dandia Gair in Jodhpur and Geendad in Shekhawati, are variations to this dance form. The men wear long, pleated tunic which open out into full length skirts as they move first in clockwise then anti clockwise directions
• In Chari dance , performed on marriage occasions or on the birth of a male child, women dance with brass pots on their heads.
• Kalbelia dance is an art of the Kalbelia tribe, the snake charmers, in which sapera dancers wear long, black skirt embroidered with sliver ribbons.
• With numerous pots on the head, women perform Matka-bhawai .
• Kathputli uses the ballads retold in the voice of the puppeteer who erects a make shift stage in which puppets are strung on the stage to act and dance to the ballad
• Chart Dance of Kisherigarh region, involves dancing with a chari, or pot, on one's head.
• Kachhi Ghodi is performed on dummy horses which men in elaborate costumes move with naked swords
• Fire dance is performed by the 'jasnathis' of Bikaner and Churu districts in which the performers dance on brightly glowing embers
• In Drum dance, f ive men with huge drums around their necks, perform Kathhak , a popular dance form imported from Uttar Pradesh, have been revived by the rajputana courts
• Teerah Taali is performed by t he Kamad community of Pokhran and Deedwana in honour of theft deity, Baba Ramdeo.
• Pabuji Ki Phach is a tribute to the 14th century folk hero, Pabuji, in which a scroll highlights the life and heroic deed of Pabuji.