Mizoram Rhythmic Bamboo Dance Notebook

Cheraw Dance, popularly known as Bamboo dance is performed in the state of Mizoram in North Eastern India. According to legend, it was performed to ensure a safe passage for the soul of a mother who died at childbirth. Cheraw was treated as a dance of sanctification and redemption performed with great care, precision and elegance. The dance form is characterized by the use of bamboo staves which are kept in cross and horizontal forms on the ground. While one set of dancers move these bamboo staves in rhythmic beats, the other set of dancers perform by stepping in and out of the bamboo blocks with grace. The patterns and stepping of the dance have many variations. Sometimes the steppings are made in imitation of the movements of birds, sometimes the swaying of trees, and so on.