Page 3 - Oct-Dec 2011

VOL. 8 No. 4

TO THE TRIBAL BEATTHE T

India is home to many tribes, each having their own dance forms. Indian tribes or adivasis possess a culture, which is unique
and diff erent with dance and music forming an integral part of their traditions.
Did you know?
WARLI PAINTING AND FOLK DANCE
Nicobarese, the tribal group that lives
For the tribals, tune is akin to a circle with cycles within cycles on the island of Car Nicobar, perform a dance
repeating themselves endlessly. Hence, during the Ossuary Feast or the Pig Festival. The
you have people dancing in spirals dance is dedicated to the departed head of the
and open-ended circles. They see family and is celebrated with dancing
in full moonlight all
themselves as joyous dancers in night long.
this time frame. This cyclic nature
of time is played out in all spheres
of their lives and can be best seen in Did you know?
their annual cycles of work, thanksgiving, enjoyment, and
work again. The Warli art of Maharashtra depicts the diff erent 'Nongkrem' is a popular folk dance of
moods and seasons associated with tribal life. Dance is an Meghalaya. The dance is performed by
important part of this depiction. the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya to
celebrate the ripening
Shahin, H.M.P. School, Dahanu
of paddy.

Did you know? FOLK THEATRE

Karam dances are a part Folk theatre is another form of folk performance.
of the Karam Festival celebrated Yakshagana is one such folk performance and is
by the Oraons of Jharkhand at the end believed to have emerged from the music and
of the rainy season. This festival celebrates theatre during the Bhakti movement. It is a popular
the Karam tree. In the musical theatre from the state of Karnataka. In
Karam dances, which are of earlier times the performances would go on for the Illustration by:
many types, the boys and entire night. The performance consists of a group Shubhangi
Gupta, Std. 7, DPS
girls dance in separate rows that plays the background music and a group that
Mathura Road,
facing each other. dances and renders the dialogues. The yakshagana Delhi
Eva Imam, Class 5, St.Xaviers School, Hazaribagh starts at twilight with the playing of drums for
about an hour after which the actors move to the stage. The story is
usually from the epics of Ramayana or the Mahabharata or from the
Puranas. The narrator or the Bhagvatha narrates the story through
songs or dialogues.

Name the dance __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________
Name the state __________________ __________________ __________________ __________________

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