Performing Art · Punjab
Sammi
ਸੰਮੀ
A women's folk dance of Punjab (tribal communities of Sandal Bar / Pothohar) — performed in a circle with the women's hands swinging up from the sides to the front, singing the Sammi-meri-vaar songs.
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Where Sammi comes from
Sammi is a traditional women's folk dance of Punjab, originating from the tribal communities of the Sandal Bar region and popular across the western Punjab Bars and Pothohar regions. The dance is named after a legendary young heroine, Sammi, who was deeply in love and used to sing and dance for the sake of her beloved — a legend revived and re-popularised through the songs 'Sammi meri waar' across the Punjabi cultural sphere. The dance was studied in detail by the scholar Gibb Schreffler in his 2012 paper 'Desperately Seeking Sammi: Re-inventing Women's Dance in Punjab'. Today Sammi is performed at weddings and harvest festivals by women in the western Punjab and by diaspora communities.
How it's practiced
Sammi is performed by women in a ring formation, swinging their hands up from their sides to the front in a soft, recurring arc. The dance is slower and more graceful than Giddha and emphasises the Sassi-Punnu and Sammi-meri-vaar love songs. Dancers wear bright kurtas with the ghagra or lehenga skirt, and the distinctive silver hair-ornament that the form is known for. The dance is performed at weddings and at harvest festivals, particularly in the western Punjab districts of Mianwali, Bhakkar, Layyah and adjoining areas. The most popular opening line of the song repertoire is 'Sammi Meri waar..' — Sammi, my beloved.
A women's folk dance of Punjab (tribal communities of Sandal Bar / Pothohar) — performed in a circle with the women's hands swinging up from the sides to the front, singing the Sammi-meri-vaar songs.
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