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Jhoori,Gi, Swang Tegi and Rasa Dances
Gee
Dance
The Gee dance of Sirmaur is performed during the festival of Lohri. Singers stand in a curve with instrumentalists while individual dancers (boys or girls) rise one by one to dance to the music.
A peculiar custom related to this dance is that only girls born in the village it is being performed in can partcipate in it. Brides who may have come from other villages cannot dance it in their husband's village.
They can dance the gee only in their parental village. The Rasa, another dance from Sirmaur, has a carefully thought-out pattern and lasts for a long time.
The dancers form chains (pindi-bandhas) or concentric circles and the songs (mostly love stories) are in a question-answer form.
A host of musicians accompany the singers, and you might sometimes find the male dancers brandishing dangras (axes).
In the Rasa dance, the dancers step back and forth and sit and leap up alternatively as they dance. This dance form is symbolic of the unity of the people.
Swang Tegi is a free dance which copies the gestures of animals. This is danced during the Diwali festival with the dancers wearing tiger masks carved out of wood. Dharvedi and Droondu are religious dances arranged during Jagaras or Shant. In these, scenes from the battlefields or temple and stupa shapes are presented. Dancing in circles and suddenly lying down on the ground and striking various poses are some of the chief features of these dances. These are danced with great fervour.
These dances can be seen during the Dussera season
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