Performing Art · Haryana
Khor
खोर
A women's stick-circle dance of Haryana — performed at the Teej festival with sticks tapped against partners' in coordinated patterns, similar in style to the garba-dandiya forms of western India.
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Where Khor comes from
Khor is a women's stick-dance tradition of Haryana, performed at the Teej festival (the monsoon festival of women dedicated to goddess Parvati) and at marriages. The form is associated with the women's monsoon celebrations and with the agricultural fertility of the village. The dance shares characteristics with the broader north-Indian stick-dance tradition (the Dandiya Raas of Gujarat, the Gair of Rajasthan and the Kolattam of Tamil Nadu), with Haryana's Khor being the regional expression. The dance is performed in the courtyard of the bride's home on the eve of the wedding (the Teej ceremony) and on the monsoon Teej day.
How it's practiced
Khor is performed by groups of women in a circle (or in two facing rows), each holding two short sticks (the khor) which are struck against partners' sticks in coordinated patterns in time to the song. The accompanying music is the dholak and the brass shehnai, with the women in a circle raising their sticks in the sky between the strikes. The dance is celebratory and is part of the wedding-cycle ritual. Costume is the colourful Haryana women's festival dress — the green or red sari (the traditional Teej-colours), the heavy silver jewellery and the bright glass bangles. The dance is performed for several hours through the Teej day.
A women's stick-circle dance of Haryana — performed at the Teej festival with sticks tapped against partners' in coordinated patterns, similar in style to the garba-dandiya forms of western India.
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