Tippani is an Indian folk dance considered to be a “dance of the manual labourer”. This essentially “women oriented” dance form has originated from the Chowrad region situated in Gujarat, India. In addition, just like the “Dandiya Raas”, this dance form too, involves the use of sticks. Furthermore, this dance is said to have been developed by women belonging to a community of labourers known as the “Koli”, in which the men earned a living by breaking stones and levelling the ground. This dance basically was created by the women in the community (i.e. Kolis) with the intention to getting rid of the boredom they face in their life, while the men are occupied with work.
a. History/origin of Tippani Dance:
This “creative” dance originated due to the “monotony” faced by the women belonging to the labourer “Koli” community. This “boredom” arose simply due to the fact that the men of this community were always kept busy at work.
b. Costumes used in the Tippani Dance:
The costume used in this “female oriented” dance mainly comprises of a short coat with tight sleeves known as “Kedia”. It also consists of a “Churidar” and extremely colourful and decorated caps/turbans and a waist band.
c. Music used in the Tippani Dance:
The musical instruments used to generate music for this dance form includes the dhol, manjira, Turi and Thali (brass plate), Zanz, Tabla and the shenai. Furthermore, the music used is essentially “rhythmic” in its melody.
d. Training availability and dance technique involved:
In terms of the technique, in this dance form women arrange themselves in two separate rows holding a “Tippani” (i.e. two wooden sticks of about 175 cm joined by wooden or iron block) in the hand, with which they then beat the ground while dancing to the rhythm of what is essentially folk music. As for training, since this folk dance is not very popular there are not many schools/centres available in the state of Gujarat or throughout the country that provide for coaching to all those interested in learning this “eye catching” dance form.