Goff

Golf dance also called ''ribbon dance'' is one of the popular folk dances of Goa. It is performed during the Shigmo festival in Phalgun month. Goan peasants mainly practice this dance after the harvest as manifestation of their enjoyment. This dance has an affinity with tribal dance form of Gujarat state. The dance is a major attraction during the festive season and it attracts audiences from various part f a country. Cancona was one the last territories which were taken over by the Portuguese  in Goa. Owing to this reason, the people here are much more rooted to their past tradition.

Performance of Golf dance
Generally , this folk dance is performed in a  group. the dance can be performed by a group of males or females. Each dancer hold a colorful cord which hangs at the center point of the 'mand', which is place of dance performance. The dancers start dancing intricately forming a beautiful, colorful intricate braid at the end of the first  movements. The music begins once again and the dancers reverse the pattern of dancing in such a movement, the braids gets unrevealed and all the cords are loose and single once again.

There are four different braids of Goff dance. The songs that are sung during the dance performance are mostly devoted to Lord Krishna.

Musical Instrument of Golf dance Ghumat, Samael and Surta Shansi or melodic musical instrument accompany the dance performance.

Costume of Golf dance
The costume of this folk dance is varied however all the attires are traditional. Some male groups prefer to wear kurta - pajama and some kurta dhoti. One the other hand, some females dance group clad themselves in ghagra -choli while some sari.

Dhalo

On cold winter nights, womenfolk from Goan villages gather on the scared ground called maand to celebrate the exclusive women's dance called the Dhalo.
 Dhalo is a popular folk dance form from Goa, India. The dance is performed by women and serves as  a  prayer of protection for their households.The songs on which this dance is performed are usually in Marathi or Konkani languages and are commonly religious or social in nature. It is conducted over a period of 1 week in the month of  Pousha at the onset winter. On the final day women dress up elaborately and draw caricatures of men.

Technique
 In this form of dance, 12-24 women dance together in to parallel rows facing each other and with interlocked arms.
The silvery sheen splashed by the full moon bounces off he leaves of the ancient banyan tree that stand like a guardian, protecting the Dhalo maand beneath. Under its thick green canopy, the women of the remote village of Chandel at the northern tip of Pernem Taluka are visibly excited.
Dressed in traditional sari, hair adorned with fragrant flowers, they stand in two rows  still while the opposite row approaches them chanting the Dhalo song and when within  arm's s reach, blow down in unison before retreating in reverse back to their original position.The other row reciprocates the same action repeating with with a chant and in turn blowing to them

Custom of Dhalo dance
Dhalo usually on the wednesday or on the sunday. Prior to the celebrations the women decorated the open space of the house and the temple with rangoli Women from the villages are also welcomed to participated in the dance However, widows do not take part in the dhalos. Women offer talli i.e rice, moog and jiggery which are cooked and served to those presents. The leader of the villages locally known as Manndkann invokes a saluation to the divinity, the Earth Mother and seeks her bleesings for the whole villages and the festivals rituals.  

Mussal khel

It is certain that the Pestle dance came into Goa during the time if Kadamba dynasty, established in Goa A.D 980 and 1005. There is a belief that it was first performed before the the gate of fort in their capital of Chandrapur ( modern Chandor), in celebration of the victory  of  the Vijayanagar prince Harihar over the Cholas.

The Christians of Chandor keeps up a tradition by performing this kind of dance annually. Their costumes for the occasion are in Yadavas style. The Shivlinga symbol is brandished and waved in the  dance, dancers with burning torches accompany it. 

It is a dance based on the story the legendary prowess of the  ancient Kshatriya from whom the Christian Chardos of Chandor, as elsewhere in Goa, descend. the mussoll dance is performed near the village mandd (The mandda khuris, from  where the dance begins, derives its name from the nearby ancient site of Chandreshwar temple which now lies in ruins and where the village mandd once stood). It is an enacting of the Kshatriya  story that must have been dramatically exhibited in the sabhamandap of the of the royal temple of lord Chandreshwar  at Cota, whose ruins, to date, are the reminders of splendor of the old city - a story that would have been dramatized with as many variations as the circumstances of the time permitted. Since the conversation of the Kshatriya to a Christianity, the dance has persisted as a continuing cultural expression of the chandor's Chardos.

                

Fugdi

Fugdi is a Goan folk dance performed by the women in the konkani religion festivals like Ganesh Chaturti and Vrata or towards the end of other dances like Dhalo.

Traditional Roots
 Fugdi is an art form that can be traced to the primeval cultural traditions of Goa. It is performed during various religions and social occasions. Fugdi is generally performed during the month of Bhaadrapada, an occasion for the women to take temporary break from their normal, monotonous schedule.

Technique
The women sing and dance while enacting varied formations in a circle or in rows. Usually women in the villages dance Fugdi in circles and women in forest settlements formulated rows. The dance starts with invocation to Hindu Gods. The pace is slow in the beginning, but soon attains a  fast pace, reaching climax. No preccussion support is provided. At the maximum pace, the dancers match the rhythm by blowing air through the mouth that sounds like "FOO". Hence the name Foogdi or Fugdi.

A distinctive style of fugdi is found among the Dhangar women. No songs go with it; two women join croosed hands and spin around together, bending and swaying to a distinct rhythm. Style wise there is no clapping nor there are any special steps only the sway of the bodies is distictive. Among the more forms is the naked fugdi peculiar only to Goa. A women may wow to some deity that she would dance the naked fugdi in granted. If a child is born then, on the sixth day from the birth, in the mother's confinement room the naked fugdi is danced behind closed doors.

GhodeModni

Ghode modini dance literally involes horse- movements in its performance. It is a spectacular warrier- dance performed for remembrance of the victory of Ranes, thetc Maratha rulers of the Satari taluka in Goa, over Portuguese. This dance is more popular in Bicholim, Pernem, and satari talukas, which was once ruled by the Maratha.

It is also performed during the time of Shigmo festivals in Goa. For the performance the Kshatriya dancers wear huge head gears made up colourfull flowers. Even the wooden horses are beautifully bridled and decorated with spotless white clothes and there are tied ghungurs on the anklets

The performance begins with the simple steps of the dance. Holiday the bridle in one hand brandishing and waving a naked sword in the other hand, the dancer take forward and backward step in the beat of drums - Dhol , Tasha and Cymbals.

Basically, the brave deeds and praise actions of the Goan Warrier are expressed in the dance named as Ghode Modini dance. This dance is also known as dummy dancers armed with swords perform. For three days the people are in mood for fun and floric during carnival. This dance is special attraction of this Annual Carnival seasons.