DHALO

Dhalo is performed by women folk on the moonlit night of Hindu 'Pausha' month. This dance is performed during the week-long festivities are held at night time and the main deities propitiated on the occasion are Mother Earth and Sylvan deity, who are supposed to protect their house-holds. Compared to Fugdi dance, this dance is slow. The songs are in Konkani and Marathi. Normally 12 - 24 women assemble after the dinner at a pre-selected specific spot called 'Mand' in the courtyard of a house in the village. They arrange themselves in 2 parallel rows of 12, facing each other, and in a tribal fashion form a link within themselves with an arm-around-the-back arrangement, singing in unison. Normally, two rows of women confront each other by prancing forward and backward while singing the stories of their life and the contemporary society. The songs cover religious and social themes. The dance goes on every night for a week. On the concluding day, women sport all sorts of fancy dresses and even caricature menfolk.