Dancersfeet

Goff is a curious dance form performed during the Shigmo festival. A bunch of six to twelve ropes are suspended from the roof of a Maatov, (a kind of temporary pavilion) erected in the courtyard of the house or to a tree top. Each dancer holds one dangling rope in his left hand and a Toni or a napkin in his right hand. The dancer begins dancing with his companion. The dance is performed on the rhythm of instruments like the Ghumat, Jodshamel and Jaghaant, sometimes even a Harmonium and a Tabla.The players dance in such a way that all the ropes are woven together to form one thick rope. The dancers then dance move in a reverse direction to unwind woven the ropes. Careful rhythmic steps to weave and unweave the dangling ropes are the essence of this dance. The dancers have to perform this feat with great concentration and a single error in their step could lead to asymmetry in the dance and improper weaving of the ropes. When such improper weaving occurs, the dance gets halted. Tr...

Dhaalo, is a festival of women folk which is celebrated for 5-7 days in the month of Poush annually. The communities like Gawda, Bhandari, Naik perform the Dhaalo. On the stipulated day, the women folk of that wado gather at the sacred place called 'Dhaalem Maand'. This Maand invariably should have a Tulsi Vrindavan and enough of space for dancing. The Tulsi Vrindavan plays a significant role in the proceedings of the Dhaalo. The first ritual is to light a traditional lamp by the Maandkaar woman and give a call to others to participate in the Dhaalo through a song. Initially the participants stand in two rows facing each other by putting their arms around the other's waist. The entire row is called 'Faanti'. The row moves forward by plain walking. The entire row then bows down when it meets the other line and also while coming back. At this time particular traditional songs are sung and at the end of the verse the bowing is done. This bowing is called Naman...

All women dances in Goa are referred to as 'Fugdi'. There are a few annual events where essentially the fugdi is to be performed. The fugdi performed by common women folk at the rural and tribal level is more skillful and vigorous, consisting different varieties. Such varieties are inspired by the festivals of Dhillo, Dhaalo and Chavath to obtain blessings from lord Ganesh. The convention followed by the village folk is to perform the Fugdi in front of Ganesh idol. It is also considered to be a form of worship. For the understanding of the Fugdi, one should be familiar with the daily routine of the folk life, which involves hard labour and an imaginative spirit. The actions, movements, footsteps,hand gestures, beats of clapping, patterns, formations, dealings with co-dancers; every thing is associated to their lifestyle. Different household acts are expressed at the time of dancing the fugdi. But this depicted in absolute improvised manner. Joining depicted by two to ...

Musical instruments plays very important role in folk dances of Goa. They are as follows:- 1) Ghumat An earthern pot having two mouths,  out of which one is big and the other one is narrow. The bigger mouth is covered with monitor lizard-skin, locally called as 'Gaar'. 2) Shamel This instrument always accompanies the 'Ghumat'. The base of the Shamel is  carved out of 'Khair' wood and the wooden base is covered with a skin of She-goat . It is played with the help of two thin cane sticks of around 30-35 cm in length. 3) Harmonium Harmonium is one the most popular melody instruments provides support for singing part of dance as well as devotional and theatre music. 4) Kaansalem Kaansalem consists of two big gongs made of Kaashem(Bronze) and brass. The gongs are thick and flat, usually attached with a block of coir. The Kaansalem produces a flat sound to match the pitch of the percussion instruments like Ghumat and Shamel. 5) Pakhwaaj The Pak...

Goa is known as a multi-ethnic state with a majority of Hindu and Muslims along with Catholic minority. All religious people live in harmony. Goa is one of the famous tourist destination which attracts thousands of tourist all over India. Apart from that Goa is known for its cultural heritage. Goan art and architecture attracts thousand of eyes. One of the important aspect of Goan cultural heritage includes folk dances. Goan folk dances bear a tradition of thousand of years, characterized by numerable forms performed by and reflecting lifestyles, cultures and aspirations of different religious and castes of goan society. Both women and men are involved in folk dances. Women perform a number of traditional dances such as Dekni, Fugdi, Dhalo, Lamp dance, etc. Kunbi is a tribal folk dance. Morulo is another traditional folk dance presented by the backward community during Shigmo. Other folk dances includes Goff, Ranmale, Zagor, etc.