Cheraw (Bamboo Dance)

Understand

Where Cheraw (Bamboo Dance) comes from

Cheraw is the traditional bamboo-dance of the Mizo (Lushai) people of Mizoram, considered one of the oldest known Mizo dances with origins possibly dating to the 1st century CE (during the era before the Kuki-Mizo migration into the Chin Hills and later into present-day Mizoram). The dance is performed at the Chapchar Kut (the central pre-harvest festival of the Mizo people) and at weddings and community gatherings of the Mizo. The dance was set a Guinness World Record in 2010, when over 10,736 dancers performed Cheraw in unison for eight minutes on a 3 km stretch in Aizawl. The dance is one of the most distinctive traditions of Mizoram and is regularly performed at the cultural programmes of the state and at the international cultural pageants of the Mizo diaspora.

How it's practiced

Cheraw is performed by men and women of the Mizo community, with the men (typically 4-8) seated facing each other and rhythmically tapping pairs of long bamboo staves on a horizontally-placed bamboo on the ground. The women dancers move in coordination with the bamboo rhythm — stepping in and out of the clashing poles, crossing over them and performing controlled hops, slides and glides. The choreography incorporates movements inspired by the swaying of trees and the flight of birds. The dance is accompanied by the traditional Mizo instruments — the khuang (drum), the darbu (gong) and the cymbals, with the bamboo poles generating the core rhythm. Modern versions sometimes include the accordion, mandolin and guitar. Costume is the distinctive Mizo dress — the vakiria (the female bamboo headdress decorated with feathers and beetle wings) and the kawrchei (the white-red-green-black blouse) for the women, and the khumbeu (the bamboo hat) and the Mizo shawl for the men.