Why in the News?

• The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh participated in the Malwa Utsav organized at Lalbagh Complex, Indore from 6 to 12 May 2025.

Key Points:

About Malwa Utsav:

⇒ It is a five-day cultural festival organised by Lok Sanskriti Manch.

⇒ This festival has been organised regularly for the last 25 years.

Objective:

• Preservation and propagation of folk culture and traditions.
• To provide a platform and market to local artists and craftsmen.
• To promote national integration and cultural exchange.

Exhibition of Folk Arts and Handicrafts:

⇒ In this festival, folk artists from different states of the country and different areas of Madhya Pradesh presented folk dance and music.

⇒ Weavers and handicraft artists displayed weaving, clay and metal artefacts.

⇒ Murals, Reza work, Batik prints, copper and brass statues, and tribal paintings were the main attractions of the festival.

Folk Dances of Madhya Pradesh:

Kathi :

• This is a dance performed by the Balai community, in which clothes decorated with peacock feathers and a bamboo 'kathi' are used.
• This dance is performed on the 'Dhak' instrument.

Gangaur :

• In the month of Chaitra, women worship Goddess Parvati by dancing on clapping and thali. Its two forms – Thalaria and Thola are famous.

Phaphriya :

• It is a group dance performed by men and women together to the sound of pungi.

Madalya :

• In this, women dance at a fast pace with hand and foot movements to the beat of the drum.

Ada-Khada :

• This dance is performed by women to the beat of drums on occasions like marriage, birth and death.

Danda Dance :

• It is performed by men with a stick to the beats of drums and plates during the nights of Chaitra-Vaishakh.

Matki :

• Women balance several matkis on their heads and dance in a circular motion to the beat of drums. Aada-Khada is one form of this.

Rai :

• This dance performed by the Bedia tribe is in a conversational form based on makeup and social topics. Ram Sahay Pandey is its main artist.

Saira :

• This dance is performed as a prayer to Lord Indra for rain by young men holding sticks accompanied by dholak and flute.

Jawara :

• Women perform this dance while balancing a crop basket on their head, which shows the importance of crops.