Naga Bamboo Dance

Understand

Where Naga Bamboo Dance comes from

The Naga bamboo-dance is the community bamboo-stave dance of the Naga tribes of Nagaland, performed at the village festivals and at the cultural celebrations. The dance is performed by men (handling the bamboo staves) and by women (dancing between the moving poles) in coordinated rhythm. The dance is one of the broader Northeast-India bamboo-dance tradition (related to the Mizo Cheraw and to the Tangkhul Nagas' bamboo-dance). The dance is regularly performed at the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland and at the cultural programmes of the state.

How it's practiced

The Naga bamboo-dance is performed by men and women of the community in coordination with the bamboo poles. The men (4-8) sit facing each other and rhythmically tap pairs of long bamboo staves on a horizontally-placed bamboo on the ground. The women dancers step in and out of the clashing poles, crossing over them and performing controlled hops and slides. The dance is performed at the Hornbill Festival and at the village festivals. Music is the bamboo mouth-organ and the small cymbals. Costume is the traditional Naga dress — the lungi, the headdress with the hornbill-feather and the colourful shawl. Performances are at the Hornbill Festival and at the cultural programmes of the state.