Ghoomar (Haryana)

Understand

Where Ghoomar (Haryana) comes from

Ghoomar in Haryana is the regional variant of the women's circle dance known more widely from Rajasthan. The form has a long-standing practise in Haryana with the women of the Jat and Ahir families of Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Rewari and the Mewat districts performing the dance at marriages and at the festival of Holi. The Haryana Ghoomar is referenced in the colonial-era gazetteers as the principal women's social dance of the Jat villages of the region. Today the form is regularly performed at cultural programmes of the state and has been adopted as a symbol of the Haryana cultural identity in urban functions.

How it's practiced

Ghoomar in Haryana is performed by women in a circle (with the men sometimes forming an outer ring) clapping in coordinated patterns and singing the ghoomar-pad songs (the verses of the women's dance). The dance is twirling in time with the claps, with the women lifting the ghagra-skirt to make it flare with the spin. Music is the dholak (and the nagara for special occasions) — at the larger functions accompanied by the shehnai. Costume is the colourful Haryana women's ghagra-choli with the heavy silver jewellery of the region (the hath-phul, the kangan, the jhumka) and the dopatta over the head. The dance is performed on the eve of the marriage (the sangeet) and on Holi.