Indian folk dances are simply a cultural treasure. There are so many and so different from each other. Let’s take a look at some Indian folk dances:

Ghoomar is a folk dance from Rajasthan where the women dress in colorful saris and twirl to the sound of music. It’s a very alluring dance because the women are often veiled, which gives an air of mystery. The dancers often have special arm and hand gestures that change with the pace of the music. It’s a very graceful dance.

The Dandiya Raas is a folk dance from Gujarat. Both men and women hold sticks in their hands, to which they beat the sticks to the beat of several drums. It’s a very fast paced dance, where keeping rhythm is important. This dance is a choreographed dance where the dancers must change their formation within the dance frequently.

The Purulia Chhau dance is a folk dance that is very popular in West Bengal. Dancers act out scenes from Indian epics like the Mahabharata wearing elaborate costumes and masks. The dances are performed to instruments played by musicians. As you can see in the video, this dance is lively, vigorous and acrobatic as well.

Kolattam is an old Tamil folk dance where women grasp two sticks and beat the sticks to a set rhythm.  Pinnal Kolattam is a dance where women hold on to ropes of various colors. As the women skip over each other, the ropes lace together in beautiful patterns. In the video below, it seems they did a fusion dance with the regular kolattam and pinnal kolattam.