Folk dances of Assam

Assam is home to many groups: Muslim, Indo-Aryan, Rabha, Bodo, Dimasa, Karbi, Mising, Sonowal Kacharis, Mishmi and Tiwa (Lalung) etc.

The male dancers and musicians enter the dancing area first, maintain their lines and follow synchronized patterns.

It is usually characterized by specific postures: movements of the hips, arms and wrists; twirls, squats and bends.

The most important musicians are the drummers (dhulia), who play a twin-faced drum (the dhol, which is hung from the neck) with one stick and a palm.

The mohor xingor pepa is played (usually at the beginning) by a single player, who lays out an initial plaintive motif which sets the mood for the dance.

Subjects of the lyrics include welcoming the Assamese new year, describing the life of a farmer, history and satire.

Although males and females perform Bihu dance, the female Bihu dance has more variations (including freehand, twisting, with a rhythmic pepa, with a kahi (traditional metal plate) and with a jaapi (Assamese conical woven hat).

The performance may be long, but is enlivened by rapid changes in rhythm, mood, movements, pace and improvisation.

[7] However, the underlying goal of the dance remains the same: to express the desire to feel both pain and happiness.

A dance form of Assam performed in Tols or Namghar by both men and women separately.

He plays " Chordhara", "Pimpora Gusuwa", "Bhoomi Leta" and "Bhojan Bihar" are called Jhumura.

Bwisagu begins with cow worship; then, young people reverentially bow down to their parents and elders.

This dance is performed in the Bodo-inhabited areas of Udalguri, Kokrajhar, Baksa, Chirang, Bongaigaon, Nalbari, Darrang and Sonitpur Districts.

This Bhortal Nritya of Barpeta district is said to have derived from the classical dance form of the state.

Jhumur is a traditional dance form of "Adivasi" or Tea tribes community of Assam.

The girls mostly perform the dancing part, holding each other's waist and moving hands and legs forward and backward synchronously.

The dance has a huge following in the "Tea tribe" dominated districts of Assam, like Udalguri, Sonitpur, Golaghat, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia .

Apart from dancing, they also sing and play small cymbals, relating stories from the epics and Puranas.

According to folklore, in the Dvapa era, King Bali gave the giants the name of Harinam Through physical labour.