Mizoram Dances into Guinness Book

Mizoram’s state dance Cheraw has danced its way to the Guinness Book of Records.

Mizoram has danced its way to the Guinness Book of Records. The state’s famous dance—Cheraw, popularly known as Bamboo Dance—was staged by 10,736 young men and women at the state’s annual Chapar Kut, the harvest festival, in state capital Aizawl, on 12 March, making it the largest dance ensemble in the world. The dancers, divided into 671 bu or groups, performed for 8 minutes at the Lammual Grounds and a 2.5 kilometre stretch of road leading to the grounds. Cheraw is a very intricate and graceful dance where men squat on the ground in a square and hold interlinked bamboo staves. They bring the staves against each other to rhythmic beats while female dancers step elegantly and skillfully in and out of the fast moving bamboo squares. The record-making performance was witnessed and certified by Guinness World Records Adjudicator Lucia Sinigagliesi. Cheraw, legend has it, was originally performed only to wish safe passage for the soul of a woman who died at childbirth, but, with time, became an all-occasion dance.

About The Author

Jaideep Mazumdar