Chhattisgarh Tribal Dances

We were fortunate to be able to view four tribal dances:

• The Saila, or Stick Dance, was performed in the village of Brenda. It is performed by a village's young men, typically house to house in adjoining villages. The dancers have small sticks which they use to strike an adjacent dancer's sticks. They move in clockwise, then counter-clockwise, circles. The "Mandar" drum provides a varying speed beat for the dancers.

• The Gedi, or Stilt Dance, was performed in Kanker. It is a dance of the Gond people, who are spread widely throughout Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and are one of India’s more famous tribal groups. The male Gedi dancers use a pair of bamboo stilts with footrests. The dancers strike the stilts on the ground to produce simple rhythmic beats. The dance is performed in a circle and often finishes with a pyramid formation. The video that I took can be viewed here: video link.

• The Karma Dance was performed in the Gond village of Muria. The dance is typically practiced around or under village tree(s), with the male and female dancers sometimes making two rows facing each other, with the males leaping forward while the females bend low to the ground. They also sometimes pair up, interlocking ankles and hopping in a circle.

• The Gaur Maria, or Bison Horn Dance, was performed in the village of Nainar. We saw both male and female dancers perform in the morning, and only the males at sunset.

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