Dance of the Week: Chutney

Chutney is an Indo-Caribbean dance composed of Indian hand gestures with other Middle Eastern influences while adding whining.

Chutney Music

Chutney is an up-tempo, rhythmic song, accompanied by the instruments: harmonium, dholak and dhantal. The harmonium provides the melody, while the dholak and dhantal help set the rhyhm.

Harmonium Dhantal Dholak

Harmonium Instrument

Dhantal Instrument

Dholak Instrument

Chutney Dance Costume

When performing, some dancers prefer to wear traditional Indian clothing to preserve the Indian heritage of the dance style (picture on the left). Other dancers choose to dress like the female (in the picture on the right) for carnivals.

Check out these videos of Chutney Dance!

Find more information at:

Book: "Creating their own space. The Development of an Indian-Caribbean Musical Tradition" by Tina K. Ramnarine

http://www.discover-tt.net/arts_and_culture/chutney_foundation_trinidad_and_tobago.html

http://aingram.web.wesleyan.edu/chutney.html

**Special thanks to Tiffany Angelina Zurzolo for helping me write this post.

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