Nicobari Dance (Nicobarese)

Understand

Where Nicobari Dance (Nicobarese) comes from

The Nicobari dance is the traditional folk-dance of the Nicobarese people (the indigenous community of the Nicobar Islands), performed at the village festival and the social gatherings. The Nicobarese are one of the indigenous tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (along with the Andamanese of the Andaman Islands and the Onges, the Jarawas, the Sentinelese and the Shompens of the smaller islands). The dance is one of the most distinctive regional traditions of the Nicobar Islands and is regularly performed at the cultural programmes of the union territory.

How it's practiced

The Nicobari dance is performed by men and women of the Nicobarese community in a circle at the central courtyard of the village or at the open ground of the festival. The men and women perform in coordinated steps to the song of the Nicobari cycle and to the rhythm of the small regional instruments (the drum of the Nicobarese tradition). The dance is gentle, with the small stepping rhythm of the Nicobarese tradition. Costume is the everyday Nicobarese dress — the coconut-frond wrap and the traditional NiObol body-ornaments. Performances are at the courtyard of the village and at the cultural programmes of the union territory.