Dance Culture of Mizoram

The Mizoram dances are associated with their respective festival celebrations. More popular dances like the Cheraw are performed almost in every festival of the state. These dances evolved from the celebration of the people when a battle is won or if the harvesting of the crops comes.


¤ Khuallam Dance

Khuallam (Dance of the Guests) is a dance performed during the ceremony called 'Khuangchawi'. During this ceremony, the guest invited enter the area dancing Khuallam. Hand woven Mizo cloth known as Puandum is wrapped over the shoulders and the dance is performed by swaying the cloth. It has the colours of black, red, yellow and green stripes and is a significant cloth in their culture as every girl takes along this cloth when she gets married. When the husband dies this cloth is used for covering his body. The dance is accompanied by the sounds of gongs known as Darbu and no song is sung. It is usually performed in large numbers.


¤ Cheraw Dance

It is one of the most popular folk dances of the tribal community in the country and one of the oldest traditional dance of the people of Mizoram. The feat of the dance is that the men sit on the ground face to face, tap long bamboo staves and they open and close it up in rhythmic beats. Girls in colourful costumes dance in and out between the beats of the bamboos. Now it is performed in all festive occassions. Gongs and drums are used for giving beats to the rhythm of the dance, slowly and slowly the modern music is accompanying the dance.


¤ Sarlamkai/Solakia Dance

This meaningful war dance originated from the communities of Pawi and Mara, which reside in the southern part of Mizoram. In olden days, the tribes were constantly at war with each other and this ceremony was performed to deride the vanquished by holding the beheaded skull of the enemy which was held by the victor. The ceremony is observed to make the vanquished soul of the enemy remain a slave forever even if the victor dies.
It is a warrior dance performed to celebrate a victory in war. When the ceremony begins, there are no songs sung, only beats of energy brought on by the gongs, drums and cymbals. The dance consists of boys and girls standing in alternate position and forming a circle. Colourful dresses are worn by the dancers and the leader of the troupe is dressed as a warrior. The celebration goes on for five days.


¤ Chailam Dance

Chailam, a popular dance performed during the festival of 'Chapchar Kut' which is regarded as one of the most important festivals. Here, the women hold on to the waist of the men and the man on the women's shoulder. They dance in circles and in the middle of the circles, the group of musicians play their instruments of drums and the mithun's horn. The entire dance is choreographed by the musician playing the drum while the lyrics 'chai' song is performed by the one with the mithun's horn.