Lezim

Understand

Where Lezim comes from

Lezim (also spelled lezium or lazium) is a folk dance form from Maharashtra that is as much a vigorous physical drill as a dance. Historically, two main rural variants existed — the heavier reedh (a 2.5-foot bamboo pole with an iron chain) used as exercise, and the lighter koyande with a wooden pole and a 1-kg iron chain running through it. By the twentieth century, lezim had been adopted into the physical-education curriculum of schools and colleges across Maharashtra and into the practice of the state militia. The first international presentation of lezim was at the 9th Asian Games in 1982, when 400 Maharashtrian lezim players gave a demonstration in Delhi.

How it's practiced

A traditional lezim performance needs at least 20 dancers who carry the wooden lezim (about half an inch of wood with metal jingles strung on a flexible loop) and strike it against their own bodies and their neighbours' lezims in time to the dholki drum. Formations vary — two rows, four rows, single circles (nartakasamuhanni), or concentric circles (samuhanrtyanta nartakam). A whistle-blowing ring-leader announces step changes; a 5-minute performance can include 25 different steps danced in unison. Lezim is widely played during the Ganesh festival and at village jatras.