Golf Dance

                                                                         Golf Dance

Golf dance also called "ribbon dance" is one of the popular folk dances of Goa. It is performed during the Shigmo festival in Phalgun month. Goan peasants mainly practice this dance after the harvest as a manifestation of their enjoyment. This dance has an affinity with tribal dance forms of Gujarat State. The dance is a major attraction during the festive season and it attracts audiences from various parts of the country.

Performance of Golf dance
Generally, this folk dance is performed in a group. The dance can be performed by a group of males or females. Each dancer holds a colourful cord which hangs at the centre point of the 'mand', which is the place of dance performance. The dancers start dancing intricately forming a beautiful, colourful, intricate braid at the end of the first movement. The music begins once again and the dancers reverse the pattern of dancing in such a skilful manner that at the end of the second movement, the braid gets unrevealed and all the cords are loose and single once again.

There are four different braids of Goff dance. The songs that are sung during the dance performance are mostly devoted to Lord Krishna.  Musical Instruments of Golf dance Ghumat, Samael and Surta Shansi or melodic musical instruments accompany the dance performance. Costume of Golf dance The costume of this folk dance is varied however all the attires are traditional. Some male groups prefer to wear kurta - pajama and some kurta dhoti. One the other hand, some female dance groups clad themselves in ghagra-choli while some sari.