Jhumar
The slow, swaying dance of the bar country, danced in a circle around the drummer.
Jhumar is a dance of the western Punjab: of the Sandal Bar, the Ganji Bar and the country towards Balochistan. Men dance slowly in a circle around a drummer, moving with a graceful swaying of the arms and body in time with the beat.
It is the dance of contentment: danced in the evening, when the work is done, when the crops have come in. Its songs are of the herdsman's life, the camel and the moonlight. There are different jhumars for different occasions and regions.
After Partition many of the communities that danced jhumar settled in East Punjab, and steps from jhumar were absorbed into stage bhangra. Jhumar is still danced in its home districts in Pakistan.
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