Kikli

Understand

Where Kikli comes from

Kikli (also Kikkli) is a women's traditional folk dance of Punjab, performed in pairs of two or four with hands and fingers interlocked in a square formation, spinning and clapping. The dance is one of the oldest women-partner dances of Punjab, mentioned in descriptions of South Asian dance going back to the early 20th century. It is performed at weddings and at the harvest festivals by teenage girls — a women's-circle counterpart to the male Bhangra. Today Kikli is performed in cultural programmes across Punjab and by the Punjabi diaspora.

How it's practiced

Kikli is performed by girls or women in pairs (or larger sets of pairs) standing face-to-face and extending their arms to interlock their hands and fingers in a square (or rhombus) frame. The pairs of dancers then whirl together — spinning in unison — while clapping and singing a folk verse of teasing or love lyric. The dance proceeds in tempo with the dhol drum or clapping, and the spinning frame contracts and expands. Costume is the colourful Punjabi salwar-kameez with the dupatta and sometimes a small stole (chunni); teenage girls typically perform with hair in long braids.