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Goa Dances
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Goa has a unique cultural heritage, rich and lively and it is known for several folk festivals and performances. The traditional folk music and dances have continued uninterruptedly, while the influence of the Portuguese music and dance on the local culture has helped evolve new forms. This happy blending and co-existence of cultural traditions gives a unique character to the music and folk dances of Goa. The famous folk dances and forms of Goa include Talgadi, Goff, Tonya Mel, Mando, Kunbi dance, Suvari, Dasarawadan, Virabhadra, Hanpeth, Gauda jagar, Ranmale, Fugadi, Ghode Modni, Lamp Dance, Musal Dance, Dhangar Dance, Dekhni and Dhalo.

with stories from the epics and mythology, concludes at sunrise. The red and white makeup of Dashavatara actors distinguishes them from the spectators who arrive shortly before 11.00 pm for the performance. The evening commences with prayers to Ganapati or Ganesha (the elephant-headed god), sung by the Sutradhar (stage manager).

Dekhni
Another form of popular folk dance, the dekhni represents an attractive mixture of folk culture and Western music, danced mostly by Christian girls in fully Indian dress. The gestures in the dance appear to have been borrowed from the Kathak and Bharata Natyam. Dekhni in Konkani language means "bewitching beauty". This song-cum-dance performed only by women to the accompaniment of folk drum "Ghumat", displays a rare blend of Indian and Western cultures. The dance enacts the life of a "Devdasi" (literally meaning servant of God) girl whose job is to perform dance in temples and social ceremonies like weddings. The theme is of a Devdasi girl who comes to a riverbank to take a ferry to reach the other side where she has an appointment to dance in a wedding. She requests the adamant boatman for a favour and is even ready to offer him her golden earring for taking her across urgently. The dance set to western rhythms and Indian melody, is livened up by the conversation between the girl and the boatman in the form of a lilting song, which lingers in the mind for a long time. The dancers carry pantis (small clay lamps with a wick floating in oil) or aartis. Only two or three dekhni songs, composed and scored a long time ago, are present.

Dhalo
One of the most popular rural dances, 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 households. 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 men folk.

vigorous session of dance accompanied by song. The dance begins with a slow beat and simple footwork to the accompaniment of Dhol, cymbals and a long flute called 'Pawa'. Their traditional songs centre on the love story of the Hindu God Krishna and his beloved Radha. The Kathiawari-styled white dress and turban in this dance point to their ancestral lineage. 

Fugdi
This is a group dance for women, with two major variations: as danced in a circle or by a rows of dancers. Broadly, villages have a dance in a circle but forest settlements have it in rows. A few fixed steps and hand gestures and hand laps are the elements. No instrument or musical accompaniment is found with the dance, but special fugdi songs are innumerable. The songs might be about Puranic stories, family life, complaints, rivalries or people. Fugdis of different types are danced by women at festivals like the Dhalo or Ganesh Chaturthi. A striking variation is the kalashi fugdi before Goddess Mahalakshmi during the vrata (disciplinary observance vowed to some diety) offered to that goddess. This is accompained by no songs, but the dancers carry the large vessels called kalashi or ghagar and blow into them rhythmically as they spin around. Altogether twenty-seven types of fugdi have been found in Goa. A distinctive style of fugdi is found among the Dhangar (shepherd community) women. No songs go with it and the two women join crossed hands and spin around together, bending and swaying to a distinct rhythm. Among the more unusual forms is the naked fugdi peculiar only to Goa. A woman may vow to some deity that she would dance the naked fugdi in some boon, usually a child to a woman friend, is granted. If a child is born then, on the sixth day from the birth, in the mother's confinement room the naked fugdi is danced behind closed doors.

Ghodemodni
This folk dance is performed in some parts of the talukas of Goa, which lie near the northern boundaries of Goa. It represents the horse (ghode) mounted cavalier, setting off to war. Ghode Modni (‘Ghode’ means ‘horse’ and ‘Modni’ means ‘gyrations and dance-like movements’) is literally a dance involving horse-like movements. It is a spectacular warrior-dance commemorating the victory of the Ranes, the Maratha rulers of the Sattari taluka in Goa, over the Portuguese. The costume is like that of a Rajput chieftain but the head dress used is a Peshwai puggree worn by the Maratha rulers. The kshatriya dancers also wear head gears made of colourful flowers, done in full traditional livery, fix at the waist effigy of a wooden horse beautifully bridled and decorated with colourful clothes, and carry ghungurs in the anklets. Holding the bridle in one hand and brandishing a naked sword with the other hand, the dancers move forward and backward to the beat of drums, Dhol, Tasha and Cymbals to recreate the prancing of war horses. Two or eight dancers, fastened inside hobby-horses below their waist, brandishing swords, execute their war like dance to the beat of the dholak and tasha. There are no accompanying songs. The dancers go as far as the village limits and return while executing this exotic folkdance. The influence behind this seems to be entirely northern. This dance is popular in Bicholim, Pernem and Sattari talukas once ruled by the Marathas. It is mostly performed during the Shigmo festival.

hanging at the centre point of the 'mand' and starts dancing intricately with the others, forming a beautiful, colourful, intricate braid at the end of the first movement. The music starts again and the dancers reverse the pattern of dancing so skillfully that the braid gets unravelled and at the end of the second movement, all the cords are loose and single once again. There are 4 different braids of Goff. The songs sung are devoted to Lord Krishna. Ghumat, Simel and other melodic instruments accompany the dance. Goff has an affinity with tribal dance forms of Gujarat.

Kunbi
Kunbis, the earliest settlers of Goa, are a sturdy tribal community mostly settled in Salcete taluka, who though converted to Christianity, still retains the most ancient folk tradition of the land. Their songs and dance belonging to the pre-Portuguese era are uniquely social and not religious. The fast and elegant dance by a group of Kunbi women dancers, wearing traditional yet very simple dresses, lends a colourful touch to this ethnic art form.

Mando
The Mando is very popular among the Christian community in Goa. In the grandest of traditions, the mando-singer was invited specially on occassion of a wedding or some grand celebration. He would compose special mandos in honour of the bridal couple, whose qualities were described in detail in the mando. Expert musicologists opine that the dhulpad, a part of the mando, with a very quick tempo, came into general use first and the mando with the medium tempo later. The dhulpad was sung simply as a relaxation to the sole accompaniment of the ghumat (traditional Goan percussion instrument); the violin and the guitar which are now regular components were incorporated later. The dhulpad has its roots in Goan folk music and the mando as a whole has evolved and developed from these traditional folk music roots. The mando-dhulpad singing thus has the original nature of folk songs from Goa but has evolved with the music brought by the Portuguese. The lovely mixture of Goan folk music and Church music that makes up the mando is still very popular in Goa. There is a special Mando festival held every year which attracts a large number of entries from all over the state along with appreciating audiences.

Musalam Khel
It is certain that the Pestle dance came into Goa during the Kadamba dynasty, established in Goa A.D. 980 and 1005. There is a belief that it was first performed before the gate of the fort in their capital of Chandrapur (modern Chandor), in celebration of the victory of the Vijayanagar prince Harihar over the Cholas. The Christians of Chandor keeps up a tradition by performing this kind of dance annually. Their costumes for the occasion are in the Yadavas style. The Shivalinga symbol is brandished and waved in the dance, dancers with burning torches accompany it. At the end of the dance, a devdasi girl dances up with water and brooms and sweeps the ground danced over and smoothens wet clay or cow dung over it. She receives a customary fee. All this is at the main, public location of the dance; but the troupe proceeds, like the mel troupes in the Shigma, to perform in the courtyard of one house after another. They sing a verse that announces the coming of the dance to the house and ask a lamp to be brought out. Though Chandor is almost entirely Christian in population, it retains memories and vestiges from the Hindu regime of the Kadambas, seen on the occasion of the Musalam Khel.

shouts. The dholak and the tasha (respectively a two sided wooded drum and one sided copper drum played with sticks) are the percussion accompaniments. The costumes are Kannada style and the turbans are Mysore style. The beat is marked during the dance in characteristically southern style with syllables such as tha-thai-ya, thak-thai-ya. Veerabhadra is performed once a year, as a religious observance, in some parts of Ponda district and some of Sanguem. Apart from these Veerabhadra is performed only in Sanquelim. On the night of the observance, the play Dakshakanya Sati is performed and towards the end, as a final part of the play, Veerabhadra enters. As soon as he does the characters run off the stage, leaving the actor to perform.

Ranamale
This is a form similar to the Ramlila in the north of India. It renders the story of Rama in its particular way. Ranamale does not extend beyond Sattari taluka and some parts of Sanguem taluka Indeed the mass mind does not seem to carry a strong impression of the story of Lord Rama. Apart from songs related to wedding ceremonies, folk songs seems to be full of the story of Krishna, of other tales of the Mahabharata and of Vitthala and Rakhumai. It is said that the episode of Rama's killing the demoness Tratika is rendered in some places, the performances are found nowhere but the the temple of Mhalsa at Mardol. There is a little dancing; there is however, a special dance in a martial mood for battle scenes. The accompaniment is shamel (a wooden percussion instrument) and zanj (a kind of cymbals); occasionally the ghumat is added. The form is thoroughly influenced by the Yakshagana of Karnataka. The Sutradhara enters first; in this form he is called a Bhagavat. Next comes a humorous character called Kodangi; it is traditional for this jester to dance the phugdi. These two characters remain on the stage throughout the performances and the shift properties of the scenes. The costumes are colourful and picturesque. Neither form of khel admits women; females role are played by men made up like women. It is held that the dramatic form of tiyatra (from "theatre") on the Konkani stage today evolved from the khel.

Divlyan Nach or Lamp Dance
Balancing brass lamps with burning wicks (Divli) on heads while indulging in slow dance movements is another form of entertainment typical to some South Goan villages. The Divlyam Naach re-supposes cohesion of movements on the part of all the members of the group. It calls for tremendous self-discipline. This dance derives its name from brass lamps used in the dance during the Shigmo festival. The accompanying instruments include Ghumat, Shamel, Cymbal and Harmonium. The performers indulge in a slow dancing movement, balancing brass lamps with burning wicks on the head and the hands. The balancing act controlled by tremendous self-discipline and exquisite footwork matching with the rhythms of the traditional folk songs are eye-catching. This group dance is popular in the southern and central Goa.