Uttarakhand’s folk dances didn’t grow out of a stage. They grew out of weddings, harvests, and village worship — places where dancing was the point, not a performance of it. Some of these forms are hundreds of years old and still get performed the way they started: in a courtyard, with a live Dhol player, no audience seating required. Others have moved onto proper stages too, including state government cultural events, without losing their original context in the villages.
Is There an Official List of Folk Dances of Uttarakhand?
No. There’s no single government-approved count. Uttarakhand Open University’s own course material lists folk forms well into the dozens once you include dance-songs, seasonal dances, and ritual performances alongside the standalone dance forms. District government pages add local variants on top of that. Anyone who tells you Uttarakhand has an exact number of folk dances is simplifying for convenience.
What’s genuinely well-documented, across government district portals and university material, are around a dozen major forms that show up again and again: Chholiya, Langvir Nritya, Jagar, Pandav Nritya, Jhoda, Chanchari, Chhapeli, Barada Nati, Ramola, Bhotiya/Shotiya dances, Thali-Jadda-Jhainta, and Bajuband. That’s the list this guide covers.
Garhwal and Kumaon: Two Cultural Regions, Not Two Fixed Rulebooks
Garhwal and Kumaon are Uttarakhand’s two main cultural regions, and their dance traditions do lean in different directions. Garhwal’s forms tend toward the devotional and the physical — Langvir Nritya’s pole acrobatics, Pandav Nritya’s Mahabharata re-enactments, Jagar’s deity invocations. Kumaon’s forms lean more social — Chholiya’s martial energy at weddings, Jhoda’s community circles, Chhapeli’s courtship duets.
These are tendencies, not strict borders. Jhoda shows up with local variation in both regions. Jagar is performed across both Garhwal and Kumaon, not just one. Treat the regional split as a rough map, not a rulebook.
| Garhwal | Kumaon | |
|---|---|---|
| Common forms | Langvir Nritya, Pandav Nritya, Jagar, Bajuband | Chholiya, Jhoda, Chanchari, Chhapeli |
| Instruments | Dhol, Damau, Bhankore | Dhol, Damau, Hurka, Turhi |
| Common threads | Devotional, ritual, seasonal | Martial, social, seasonal |
History: What’s Documented and What’s Local Legend
Some of Uttarakhand’s dance culture is genuinely traceable — Chholiya’s link to Kumaoni Rajput wedding traditions, for instance, or Pandav Nritya’s connection to villages that identify with the Mahabharata’s exile story. Some of it isn’t traceable at all, and that’s fine — it’s folklore, and folklore doesn’t need a citation to matter.
One story you’ll hear locally involves Paries, spirits said to live in the high Himalayas. Different villages tell it differently: some say they’re the souls of women denied proper last rites, others tie them to old Krishna-Gopi stories. Nobody can verify any version of this. It’s worth knowing because it explains why dances like Jagar carry a spiritual weight that a regular folk dance wouldn’t — but it’s a belief, not a documented history.
The Major Folk Dances of Uttarakhand
Langvir Nritya
Region: Tehri Garhwal, part of Garhwal’s broader dance tradition Performers: Men Instruments: Dhol and Damau
A bamboo pole goes into the ground. A dancer climbs it and balances his full body weight on his stomach at the top, rotating and working his hands and legs through a set of moves while the Dhol and Damau keep time below. It’s a physical skill passed down through practice, not choreography borrowed from anywhere else. Government cultural records place it firmly in Tehri Garhwal, and that’s where you’re most likely to see it performed with any regularity.
Chholiya
Region: Kumaon, most visible in Pithoragarh and Almora Performers: Men, in groups Instruments: Turi/Turhi, Ransingha, Nagphani, and drums — the exact combination varies by troupe
Chholiya is a sword dance, historically tied to Kumaoni Rajput wedding processions. Dancers mock-fight with swords and shields to drumbeats built for war, not romance. It’s still performed at weddings, and it’s also become a regular feature at Kumaon’s cultural festivals and state-level events. The historical detail about warding off rival clans specifically doesn’t hold up under scrutiny as well as the wedding-procession connection does, so this guide sticks to what’s well-supported: it’s a martial dance, it’s old, and it belongs to Kumaon’s wedding culture.
Jagar: A Ritual, Not Just a Dance
Region: Both Garhwal and Kumaon Performers: A Jagariya (ritual singer) leads; a Pashwa often enters trance Instruments: Hurka, vocal invocation
Jagar doesn’t fit cleanly into a “folk dance” list, and this guide isn’t going to pretend it does. It’s a ritual built around invoking a deity or ancestor spirit — the Jagariya sings the invocation, and the Pashwa, the person the spirit is believed to enter, moves into a trance state. District government records describe this clearly as a religious practice, not entertainment. If you come across one while travelling through rural Uttarakhand, watch from the edges and follow the lead of the people running it. It’s not staged for visitors.
Pandav Nritya
Region: Chamoli and Pauri Garhwal Performers: Village men, playing Mahabharata roles Instruments: Dhol, Damau, Bhankore
Villages that trace a connection to the Pandavas’ exile perform this as a multi-night re-enactment of Mahabharata episodes — Krishna, Arjun, Bhima, and Draupadi all get performers. It runs around Dussehra and Diwali most commonly. There isn’t a fixed statewide calendar for it beyond that, so don’t expect it on a set schedule outside those festivals.
Jhoda
Region: Kumaon, with regional variants elsewhere Performers: Mixed groups Occasion: Festivals, Holi, Basant Panchami
Jhoda is a circle dance — arms linked, slow synchronised movement, sung rather than silent. It’s also called Jhora in some areas. This is the one dance on this list a visitor can actually join without training; village elders generally welcome it.
Chanchari
Region: Strongly associated with Danpur Patti in Bageshwar, also practised elsewhere in Kumaon Performers: Primarily women, in a circle Instruments: Hurka
Chanchari isn’t confined to one valley the way some older write-ups suggest — it’s most strongly rooted in Bageshwar’s Danpur Patti area but shows up more broadly across Kumaon now. It stayed performed at Uttarakhand’s Vasantotsav 2026 cultural evening at Lok Bhavan, Dehradun, on 28 February 2026, alongside Bajuband and other regional forms — official confirmation that this isn’t a dying tradition.
Chhapeli
Region: Kumaon Performers: Male-female pairs Instruments: Manjira, flute
A courtship dance, performed in pairs, with the woman holding a handkerchief and a small mirror. It shows up at weddings, fairs, and spring festivals, and it’s one of the lighter, more accessible performances on this list.
Barada Nati
Region: Jaunsar-Bawar, Chakrata tehsil, Dehradun district Performers: Men and women together, in a circle Instruments: Dhol, Damau, Hurka
This belongs specifically to the Jaunsari community and doesn’t show up elsewhere in the state in the same form. It’s performed at weddings and religious occasions, with dancers in traditional Jaunsari dress moving through a circular, building rhythm.
Ramola
Region: Kumaon Occasion: Around Holi, tied to Krishna worship
Ramola runs through the Holi season — historically performed by travelling singers, tied to Krishna devotion. The specific idea that it was used to announce the start of sowing season is a common retelling, but it’s not something that holds up against the primary documentation, which frames it more around the Holi devotional calendar than an agricultural signal.
Bhotiya and Shotiya Dances
Region: High-altitude Bhotiya belt near the Tibet border Dance forms: Dhurang and Dhuring
These belong to the Bhotiya and Shotiya communities and are tied to death rituals. The belief, as told locally, is that the departed soul temporarily rests in a goat or sheep, and the dance is part of releasing it. This is a community belief, stated here as one — not verified fact, but a real and long-held part of how these communities mark death.
Thali–Jadda–Jhainta
Region: Kumaon Occasion: Weddings
These three aren’t one uniform performance. Thali is the part most people picture — women balancing a metal plate on their heads while dancing in circles. Jadda and Jhainta bring men into the performance alongside the women, with different rhythms and roles rather than a repeat of the same plate-balancing routine. Grouping all three under one description flattens what’s actually three connected but distinct elements of a wedding performance.
Bajuband
Region: Garhwal Type: Song-and-dance tradition
Bajuband is a Garhwali folk performance built around song as much as movement. It was performed as part of Uttarakhand’s official Vasantotsav 2026 cultural programme in Dehradun on 28 February 2026, alongside Chanchari and Harul — solid, current proof that this tradition is still active at a state level, not just a village-level memory.
Instruments: No Single Set Runs Through All of These
Dhol and Damau show up often, but not universally, and not as a fixed rule. Jagar leans on the Hurka. Chholiya’s ensemble is built around Turi, Ransingha, and Nagphani — brass and martial instruments, not the standard Dhol-Damau pairing. Treat the instrument list per dance as the real answer, not a generic “these three instruments cover everything” statement.
A Current Example: Vasantotsav 2026
On 28 February 2026, the Governor of Uttarakhand inaugurated a cultural evening at Lok Bhavan, Dehradun, as part of Vasantotsav 2026. The documented performances included Chanchari (Kumaoni), Harul (Jaunsari), Bajuband (Garhwali), Tharu folk dance, and Kumaoni Holi dance. This is the clearest recent evidence that these traditions are still performed at an official, state-recognised level — not confined to archives or old village memory.
Where and When You’re Actually Likely to See These
Timing matters more than location for most of these. Harela, in mid-July, is a genuine Kumaon and Garhwal festival, though which specific dances appear depends on the village. Basant Panchami and Holi bring out Jhoda, Chanchari, and Ramola. Weddings, particularly in Jaunsar-Bawar and Kumaon, are where Barada Nati, Chholiya, and Thali-Jadda-Jhainta are performed in their original social setting rather than as a showcase. Dussehra and Diwali bring Pandav Nritya to Chamoli and Pauri villages over several nights.
Beyond festival timing, official state cultural events — Vasantotsav being the clearest recent example — are where you can reliably catch several of these forms performed together without needing to time a village event exactly right.
Common Mistakes
Treating Jagar as a performance rather than a ritual is the biggest one — it’s worship, and it should be watched with the same restraint you’d bring to a temple ceremony, not a photo opportunity. Expecting classical-level polish is another; these are community forms, and the value is in participation and continuity, not technical precision. Assuming any of these dances run on a fixed public calendar is a third — most are tied to festivals or local occasions that shift by village and by year.
Why This Still Matters
These traditions aren’t static, and they’re not disappearing either. The Vasantotsav 2026 programme is proof of that — state government cultural events are actively including Chanchari, Harul, Bajuband, and other regional forms rather than letting them fade into archive material. The people keeping this going are mostly local performers and communities, not institutions, and that’s worth knowing if you ever get the chance to watch one of these live.
Conclusion
Uttarakhand’s folk dances don’t reduce to a clean, countable list, and this guide isn’t going to force one on you. What’s real is a set of well-documented forms — Chholiya, Langvir Nritya, Jagar, Pandav Nritya, Jhoda, Chanchari, and the rest — each tied to a specific region, community, and occasion, some ritual, some social, some both. If your Uttarakhand trip lines up with Harela, a wedding season, or a state cultural event like Vasantotsav, you’re in a genuinely good position to see one performed the way it’s meant to be.
FAQs
How many folk dances does Uttarakhand have?
There’s no official fixed number. Around a dozen major forms are consistently documented across government and university sources, though the count grows once local and seasonal variants are included.
What is the most well-known folk dance of Uttarakhand?
Langvir Nritya and Chholiya are the two most frequently cited — one for its bamboo-pole acrobatics, the other for its sword-dance history.
Is Jagar a dance or a ritual?
It’s a ritual. A Jagariya sings invocations to a deity or ancestor spirit, and the Pashwa — the person believed to be entered by the spirit — moves into a trance. It’s treated as worship, not performance.
Which dance is performed at weddings in Uttarakhand?
Chholiya, Barada Nati, and Thali-Jadda-Jhainta are the ones most directly tied to weddings, though the specific dance depends on the region and community.
What’s the difference between Garhwali and Kumaoni folk dance?
Garhwal’s forms lean devotional and physical — Langvir Nritya, Pandav Nritya, Jagar. Kumaon’s lean more social — Chholiya, Jhoda, Chhapeli. It’s a tendency, not a hard rule; Jagar and Jhoda both cross regional lines.
What instruments are used?
It depends on the dance. Dhol and Damau are common but not universal. Chholiya uses Turi, Ransingha, and Nagphani. Jagar centres on the Hurka.
Was Bajuband still performed recently?
Yes. It was part of the official Vasantotsav 2026 cultural programme at Lok Bhavan, Dehradun, on 28 February 2026.
Can visitors join in?
Jhoda is the easiest to join — it’s a linked-arm circle dance, and locals often welcome outsiders in. Jagar is not something a visitor should try to join; it’s a religious ritual.
What is Pandav Nritya based on?
The Mahabharata. Villages in Chamoli and Pauri Garhwal that identify with the Pandavas’ exile story re-enact episodes across several nights, mainly around Dussehra and Diwali.
Is Chanchari only performed in Bageshwar?
It’s strongest and most historically rooted in Bageshwar’s Danpur Patti area, but it’s now performed more broadly across Kumaon, including at state cultural events.
Must Reads on:
One thought on “Traditional and Folk Dances of Uttarakhand”
Excellent coverage and a good write-up for Art & Culture lovers like me! Thank you.