Rouf

Understand

Where Rouf comes from

Rouf is the women's folk-dance of the Kashmiri Pandit and Muslim communities of the Kashmir Valley, performed in the spring (typically at the Id-ul-Fitr of the Muslim community and the Navreh of the Pandit community) in the courtyard of the home and in the village square. The dance is one of the most distinctive regional traditions of Kashmir and is associated with the celebration of the new year and the spring. The form is preserved as a women's social dance of the valley and is regularly performed at the cultural programmes of the state. The dance is one of the most distinctive social-folk traditions of the Kashmir Valley and is recognised as a state cultural form.

How it's practiced

Rouf is performed by women of the Kashmiri community in a line (or in two facing rows) at the central courtyard of the home or at the open ground of the village. The women perform in coordinated swaying steps (without any musical instrument) to the song of the Rouf cycle, holding the hand of the next woman. The dance is gentle, with the small swaying rhythm of the Kashmiri tradition. Costume is the colourful Kashmiri pheran (the long woollen gown) with the dopatta (the head-cloth) and the regional jewellery. Performances are at the spring celebration and at the cultural programmes of the state.