Prime Minister Narendra Modi  witnessed 8,600 dancers perform in Guwahati’s Sarusajai Stadium at the Jhumoir Binandini folk dance event . 2025 to mark the 200th anniversary of Assam’s tea industry. Jhumur is the folk dance of the Sadan ethnolinguistic group. They  trace their origins to the Chotanagpur region. Women are the main dancers and singers. Men play traditional instruments such as madal, dhol, or dhak (drums), cymbals, flutes, and shehnai.

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INDIAN FOLK DANCE

Bharatanatyam, Tamil Nadu (Southern India)

Bharatanatyam,practiced in Tamil Nadu in southern India, has grown out of the art of dancers dedicated to temples. It earlier known as Sadir or Dasi Attam.

Bharatanatyam rests on the principles of performance. A aesthetics set down in classics such as Bharata’s Natyashastra. It has a rich collection of songs in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. The music of Bharatanatyam belongs to the Carnatic system of southern India. The musicians accompanying a dance recital.It include at least one vocalist, a Mridangam (drum)-player, and a flutist or violinist or Veena (lute)-player.

Bharatanatyam has a highly evolved language of Nritta. Abstract dance, and Nritya which unfolds the narrative. The themes have a wide range spanning human and divine love. And are generally classed under the rubric of shringara (romantic love) and Bhakti (devotion).

Manipuri Dance, Manipur (North-eastern India)

Manipuri dance, evolved in Manipur in north-eastern India. It  anchored in the Vaishnava faith of the Meiteis, or people of the Manipur valley. The predominant theme of Manipuri dance is devotion, and the rich lore of Radha and Krishna lends it episodic content.

Manipuri dance is introverted and restrained compared to most other dances of India.  The artist never establishes eye contact with the audience. The movements are circular and continuous, each merging into the other. Mudras or hand-gestures subtly absorbed in the flow of the movement overall. The facial expression subdued and never exaggerated. These features are evident even in the more vigorous masculine dances.

Jagoi and cholom are the two main divisions in Manipur’s dance. The one gentle and the other vigorous, corresponding to the lasya and tandava elements described in Sanskrit literature. They constitute independent streams and an artist spends a lifetime perfecting any form within. The footwork is never audible as in several other dances of India. The Pung, a drum, and flute are the principal instruments used in Manipuri dance.

Kathak (Northern India)

Kathak is the principal dance of northern India. It widely practised in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and even parts of western and eastern India today. It believed connected with the narrative art of Kathakaras or story-tellers. They have expounded the scriptures, the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, and puranic literature to the lay masses since ancient times. Kathak characterized by its footwork and pirouettes. It is pre-eminently a dance of rhythm-play. The music of traditional Kathak consists of the Thumri and other lyrical song-forms. The essential musical instruments are the Tabla, Pakhawaj, and Sarangi.

The Thumri

The Thumri is a popular genre of Hindustani music. It characterized by a lyricism that gives expression to various shades of romantic love. It acquired a special connection with Kathak dance in the court of Wajid Ali Shah at Lucknow in the nineteenth century. Typically, a Thumri has a short text of two to four lines which repeated sometimes using a sthayi-antara form. The Thumri highly ornamented, employing melodic filigree and tiny turns of voice (murki) and shakes. It usually set to a slow tala, with occasional lively drum interludes called laggis. There are several different styles of singing thumri, the most prominent being the Punjabi, Purabi (of Lucknow), and Benaras styles.

Odissi Dance, Orissa (Eastern India)

Odissi dance has its origins in Orissa in eastern India. In its rudimentary form performed as part of temple service by ‘maharis’ or female temple servants. The Vaishnava faith of Orissa is intrinsic to Odissi dance. The lore of Krishna and Radha supplies its content. Love lyrics from Jayadeva’s Sanskrit work Gitagovindam therefore have pride of place on the Odissi dance. Together with songs in Oriya by medieval and early modern poets such as Upendra Bhanja and Banamali Das. These interpreted by the dancer employing a grammar of hand-gestures of hastas. Codified footwork of ‘Pada bheda’, gaits and walks termed ‘chalis’, and spins or ‘bhramaris’ are other components of the technique of Odissi dance. The movements are soft and graceful. The dancer supported by a singer, a drummer who plays the Pakhawaj, flute and Sitar.

Kathakali

Or ‘story play’ took shape in Kerala in southern India Stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata provide the content of most Kathakali plays.

Kathakali categorizes its characters according to their nature.It employs make-up and costume to build them up as symbolic personalities. The faces of actors painted according to the type of character they represent. Green for heroes, kings, and divinities, red and black for the evil and fierce, etc. The main feature of the costume is a large, billowing skirt for male characters and various elaborate headdresses. The story enacted using a vocabulary of facial expressions and hand-gestures.

Kuchipudi Folk Dance (Southern India)

Kuchipudi, originated from Andhra Pradesh. It grew largely as a product of Bhakti movement beginning in the 7th Century AD. The Kuchipudi is a dance-drama of Nritta, Nritya and Natya.

Kuchipudi, combines speech, Abhinaya (mime) and pure dance. The Kuchipudi dancer is a multiple person on the stage. This multiplicity achieved by the swift change of mime which depends more on the combination of the naturalism of the dramatic content and the symbolism of the poetic intensity of feeling of an episode.Kuchipudi dance is accompanied by Carnatic Music.