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Mongolian Dance : The lost tradition
Minority dancers in Mongolia are keeping alive traditions that are under threat of being lost, as their tribes move away from the nomadic herding lifestyle.
Minority dancers in Mongolia are keeping alive traditions that are
under threat of being lost, as their tribes move away from the nomadic
herding lifestyle.
Horses galloping across the open steppes, the wind whistling a sad
tune. Idyllic moments of the nomadic Mongolian lifestyle are preserved
precariously in the dances of minority tribes.
The far western tip of Mongolia has been home to minorities for
centuries.
The ancient traditions of the Bayat and Khoton tribes weakened under Soviet influence and their assimilation into mainstream Mongolian life. Few preserve the nomadic lifestyle, and even fewer the tribal dances.
Sixty-five year old Lhagva remembers a time when people dressed in traditional outfits and the dances were a part of everyday life.
The Bayat "women`s dance" describes the daily work that women in the tribe used to do at home -- cooking, sewing, glancing in the mirror, taking care of children and animals.
The horse violin imitates the sounds of horses galloping and trotting across the steppes, as well as wind and other natural sounds. Lhagva wants to pass down the traditional dances to the younger generation.
"People nowadays are eager to learn foreign dances and adapt them, which means that there is a tendency to forget traditional dances. These dances are being lost. This is how an old woman like me sees it," said Lhagva.
Herder Balan is from the Khoton tribe. He learned the men`s dance from his parents who, like him, lived a nomadic life. Their nomadic lifestyle is threatened by two consecutive years of unusually fierce and snowy winters and summer droughts.
There are only 30,000 Bayats and 8,000 Khotons left in their homeland. Some have moved away to find more fertile pasturelands for their flocks.
Others have entirely abandoned the nomadic lifestyle and moved into Soviet-style apartment blocks in the provincial capital, Ulaangom. But, as long as the dances continue to be performed, the sounds of horses and the whistling wind will live on.
The ancient traditions of the Bayat and Khoton tribes weakened under Soviet influence and their assimilation into mainstream Mongolian life. Few preserve the nomadic lifestyle, and even fewer the tribal dances.
Sixty-five year old Lhagva remembers a time when people dressed in traditional outfits and the dances were a part of everyday life.
The Bayat "women`s dance" describes the daily work that women in the tribe used to do at home -- cooking, sewing, glancing in the mirror, taking care of children and animals.
The horse violin imitates the sounds of horses galloping and trotting across the steppes, as well as wind and other natural sounds. Lhagva wants to pass down the traditional dances to the younger generation.
"People nowadays are eager to learn foreign dances and adapt them, which means that there is a tendency to forget traditional dances. These dances are being lost. This is how an old woman like me sees it," said Lhagva.
Herder Balan is from the Khoton tribe. He learned the men`s dance from his parents who, like him, lived a nomadic life. Their nomadic lifestyle is threatened by two consecutive years of unusually fierce and snowy winters and summer droughts.
There are only 30,000 Bayats and 8,000 Khotons left in their homeland. Some have moved away to find more fertile pasturelands for their flocks.
Others have entirely abandoned the nomadic lifestyle and moved into Soviet-style apartment blocks in the provincial capital, Ulaangom. But, as long as the dances continue to be performed, the sounds of horses and the whistling wind will live on.