Kalbelia is of the kalbelia tribe of Rajasthan, the snake charmers. Kalbelia community’s occupation being catching snakes and trading snake venom in Rajasthan. Dancers dress traditional black swirling skirts. Kalbelia Women and Girls dance on the Rajasthani folk music during this dance.
One of the most sensuous dance forms of Rajasthan, performed by the kalbelia “snake-charmers” community. The kalbelia dancers wear long black skirts embroidered with silver ribbons. As they spin in a circle, their body sways acrobatically, sway sinuously to the accompaniment of pungi, duffle and plaintive notes of the “been” – the wooden instrument of the snake charmers.
The male participants play musical instruments, such as the pungi, a woodwind instrument traditionally played to capture snakes, the dufli, been, the khanjari, morchang, khuralio, and the dholak. The dancers are tattooed in traditional designs and also put on precious jewelry and garments highly stitched with tiny mirrors and also silver thread. As the performance progresses, the rhythm ends up being much faster and faster and so does the dance.
The upper body cloth is called Angrakhi as well as an item of cloth worn head known as Odhani likewise the lower body cloth is called lehenga. All these clothes are blended in red and also black hues.
Kalbelia songs are based on stories taken from folklore and mythology and special dances are performed during Holi. The Kalbelia have a reputation for composing lyrics spontaneously and improvising songs during performances. In 2010, the Kalbelia folk songs, as well as dances of Rajasthan, were declared a part of its Intangible Heritage List by the UNESCO.
Kalbeliya troupe
