Lavani Dance

Maharashtra’s, south of Madhya Pradesh’s, Karnataka’s and also Tamil Nadu’s type of composition is ‘Lavani’. Lavani combines conventional dance and song, in which people dance to Dholki’s (type of drum) beat. In Lavani, rhythm is powerful and erotic. Marathi theatre has developed considerably because of Lavani. Females of Maharashtra and south of Madhya Pradesh perform to this dance by draping saris of nine yards in length.

Lavanya is derivative of Lavani, which means beauty. This dance combines song and dance, in which different issues are taken into consideration like religious, political, romantic, etc. The lyrics are teasing, tune is caching, to which women harmonize sensually.

There was time when in Maharashtra a lot of battles were fought and during which Lavani was an entertainment source and boosted the morale of soldiers who got tired in 18th to 19th centuries. This dance became very popular in the rule of Peshwai, which was a Pune dynasty, as it got support from the royals, that is, the leaders. Lavani reached great heights with the help of poets of Maharashtra, such as Honaji Bala, Prabhakar and Ramjoshi among others. During the past few years, the Lavani dance has lost is charm and is outmoded now, which is restricted to films of Maharashtra and that too stereotyped. History of Lavani Dance Conventionally, this type of dance takes into consideration issues like religious, political, romantic, etc. The sentiments in this type of dance are erotic whereas the speech is pungent. When it originated, it entertained and boosted morale of soldiers who got tired during battles there. The songs of Lavani are typically naughty as well as erotic. The origin of this dance is considered to be in Hala’s Prakrit Gathas. There are two genres of it, they are: The Nirguni Lavani, which is philosophical and the other, the Shringari Lavani, which is sensual. The Nirguni’s music is devotional, which is famous throughout Malwa.

Lavani became prominent during late rule of Peshwas, though it started in around 1560s. Quite a few poets cum singers of Marathi origin contributed

considerably to this music’s development, some of them are: Ram Joshi (who lived from 1762 to 1812), Honaji Bala (from 1754 to 1844), Shahir Annabhau Sathe (from 1st August 1920 to 18th July 1969), Anant Fandi (from 1744 to 1819), and Prabhakar (from 1769 to 1843). The conventional Dholki used in this dance was replaced by table by Honaji Bala. A sub-type was also introduced by Honaji Bala, in which the singer is supposed to perform while seated and it is known as baithakichi Lavani.

The females performing Lavani dance, drape a sari which is approximately 9 meters in length. These ladies style the hairs of themselves into a bun, which is in Hindi, a juda or in Marathi language, ambada. They also wear various jewelry including earrings, kamarpatta, necklace, payal, etc. They typically put a bindi, which is quite large and red in color. Navvari is the name of the sari which they drape. This sari is draped so beautifully that it is in fact easier to carry in comparison to other types of saris.

In this dance, males also participate with the females. These men dancers are known as nats or kinnars. The dancer in the lead is supported by these males. Today the famous examples of this dance are Yamunabai Waikar and Satyabhamabai Pandharpurkar. A man writes the song and a lady usually sings and dances to it in Shringar Lavani. A female sing this Lavani song, which is romantic in nature and who waits for her lover’s acceptance. A lot of dancers of Lavani are some Marathis, from the castes such as Kumbhar and Mahar Kolhati.

Much credit goes to the films of Marathi origin, which made Lavani reachable to lot of people. Many movies like Natarang and the one Pinjara, blended conventional music along with the messages of society and also positively portrayed the Lavani.

When the Lavani dance ends in the state of Tamil Nadu, a duplicate mount of Manmatha is made to burn.

Lavani dance is basically a discussion of music and thus a musical combination of timber, song, tune, dance and tradition. The dholak beats’ are delightful and combine the dance energy with jazz. The Lavani’s tempo is fast and united with dancers’ feet dancing to the rhythm.

The famous dancers of Lavani are the legendary Raja Bhoj and Kanjar gorl. The songs of love are sung for Ranubai and Naik Banjara, having tones that are softer than other Lavani music. Conventionally the females sing these songs. Males sing occasionally. Tamasha is the type of dance in Lavani. People pick any hot or erotic song in Lavani to be performed by the dancers, which are suggestive also.