Celebrating North-Eastern folk dances

Folk dances in India, celebrate seasons, festivals, harvest, birth and death. Every occasion has an art form to express it and the tribal societies of our country, by that yardstick are the most expressive people. The dances tell stories from the region, religion and a simple expression of emotions related to the occasion. Most folk forms are representative of its people’s deep connect with nature, the source of their sustenance.

As a part of the Octave-2017 festival, over 166 artists from Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Tripura will perform Northeast folk dance forms. Various dance forms like ‘Bihu’, ‘Karbi’ (Assam), ‘Naga’, ‘Thang Ta’, ‘Rasleela’, ‘Shimlaam’ and ‘Maibi Jogi’ (Manipur), ‘Limbu’ from Sikkim, ‘Pakhu Itu’, from Arunachal Pradesh, ‘Ka Shad Kheit Soh’ dance from Meghalaya, ‘Mamita’ dance from Tripura and ‘Mungyangta’ from Nagaland will be performed during the festival.

The three-day festivities featuring the folk forms of North-East promise to leave the audiences richer from the experience and take away a slice of the little-known region of the country.

The Dance Forms
The ‘Karbi’ dance will represent Assam, though ‘Bihu’ and ‘Jhumur’ are more popular. The ‘Bihu’ dance is a folk dance from was related to the ‘Bihu’ festival. This joyous dance is performed by both young men and women and is characterised by brisk dance steps and rapid hand movement.

The ‘Limbu’ dance from Sikkim celebrates the birth, agricultural cycles of sowing and reaping, the war dance, historical dance and ancient dances performed by Shaman priests. ‘Pakhu Itu’, from Arunachal Pradesh, is a similar celebration of nature. The ‘Gyaso-Soh’, from the same State, is the dance of the ‘Bagun’ tribe.

‘Ka Shad Kheit Soh’ dance from Meghalaya recounts harvesting of fruit and stories related to it. The ‘Mamita’ dance from Tripura will dedicate the newly reaped crops to the deity of crops – Mailuma and Khuluma. ‘Mungyangta’ dance from Nagaland is based on the ancient story of Chanchu bird’s community. ‘Lai-Haroaba’ is the festival in which the ‘Maibi Jogi’ dance is performed. The people of the valley in Manipur celebrate this festival every year.

What: Octave-2017
Where: Amphitheatre, Shilparamam
When: From March 3-5 from 5.30pm onwards.