Gha To Kito (Lepcha Dance)

Understand

Where Gha To Kito (Lepcha Dance) comes from

Gha To Kito is the Lepcha community-dance of Sikkim, performed at the Tendong Lho Rumfaat festival (the central festival of the Lepcha community in August, in honour of the mountain god Tendong). The Lepcha are the original indigenous people of Sikkim, and their dance traditions form part of the cultural identity of the Sikkimese state. The dance is one of the most distinctive regional traditions of the Lepcha community and is regularly performed at the cultural programmes of the state and at the Tendong Lho Rumfaat festival.

How it's practiced

Gha To Kito is performed by men and women of the Lepcha community in a circle at the central courtyard of the village or at the open ground of the Tendong Lho Rumfaat festival. The men and women perform in coordinated steps to the song of the Lepcha cycle and to the rhythm of the small regional instruments (the dhol, the small cymbals and the bamboo flute). The dance is gentle, with the small stepping rhythm of the Lepcha tradition. Costume is the traditional Lepcha dress — the men's wrap and the women's wrap (the dumvum). Performances are at the Tendong Lho Rumfaat festival and at the cultural programmes of the state.