Bamboo dance

Bamboo dance is a tribal dance performed by the Lushais, a primitive community found in Churachandpur district of Manipur .Bamboo dance form is exclusively performed by girls, who are dressed in traditional costumes.Their skirts are designed with horizontal and vertical stripes.The dancers gently jump over the bamboo sticks, which are placed horizontally in parallel spacing over the vertically placed bamboo sticks to form interlace. .

Two people who sit on either side of the ground, slide the sticks over the vertically placed bamboo sticks.This dance is also called "cheraw" dance.Music comes out by the tapping of bamboo and also other music are accompanied by it.The dancer moves by stepping alternatively in and out from between and acroos a pair of horizontal bamboos, held against the ground by people sitting face to face at either sides.

The patterns and steppings of the dance have many variations. Sometimes the steppings are made in imitation of the movements of birds, sometimes the swaying of trees, and so on. The bamboo dance, locally known as Cheraw dance, is part of the biggest and most popular traditional Mizo festival Chapchar Kut - Mizoram's harvest festival - celebrated to mark the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Cheraw is the most colourful of Mizo dances.

Dancers move by stepping alternately in and out from between and across a pair of horizontal bamboo poles, held on either side by people sitting face to face. The bamboo poles produce a clicking sound that forms the rhythm of the dance. "Originally, the dance was performed only to ensure and wish safe passage for the soul of a mother who died at childbirth.

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