Performing Art · Gujarat
Padhar Dance
પઢાર નૃત્ય
A stick-dance of the Padhar fishermen community of Gujarat's Bhal region, danced while singing songs about water and enacting the rowing of boats.
Understand
Where Padhar Dance comes from
Padhar dance is a folk dance of Gujarat performed by the Padhar community — a traditional fishing community living along the banks of Nal Sarovar in the Bhal region of central Gujarat. The dance is documented in the Gazetteer-style volume Folk Dances of Gujarat (1966) by the Gujarat Directorate of Information and Tourism, and in Dances of India (Har-Anand). The Padhar community's livelihood is fishing and the dance reflects this, with songs about water and pantomime of boat-rowing.
How it's practiced
The Padhar dancer holds small sticks in each hand while dancing, and the choreography mimes the rowing of boats and other movements of fishing life. The accompanying songs are about water, the open marshlands of Nal Sarovar and the rhythms of daily life on the Bhal. Performances are staged at community gatherings, festivals and weddings in the villages of the Bhal region.
A stick-dance of the Padhar fishermen community of Gujarat's Bhal region, danced while singing songs about water and enacting the rowing of boats.
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