Bhangra

Bhangra is a Punjabi folk dance from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, historically associated with the spring harvest festival of Vaisakhi (Baisakhi). Colonial gazetteers document its practice in the rural farming districts of western Punjab — including the Sialkot area — by the late nineteenth century. The name derives from bhang (hemp), one of the region's harvested crops. Traditionally it was performed by men in agricultural communities to mark wheat-harvest season, with steps that mimicked farm tasks: shoulder shrugs evoking plowing, circular arm sweeps for sowing, and scythe-like swings for reaping.

The dance is driven by the dhol drum and by boliyan — short call-and-response folk couplets sung by the dancers. "Bhangra" also functions today as an umbrella term covering several distinct Punjabi folk forms commonly staged together, including Jhumar (a slower, graceful style), Luddi (a celebratory dance featuring clapping, finger-clicking, jumps, and half-turns), Dhamal, and Daankara. Giddha — performed primarily by women — is a related but separate Punjabi folk dance.

The modern staged form of Bhangra took shape in 1950s Punjab, notably through a performance commissioned by the Maharaja of Patiala in 1953, which combined steps from several regional dances into a single choreographed routine. From the 1980s onward, Punjabi-British communities in the United Kingdom blended Bhangra music with Western pop, hip-hop, and electronic styles, producing a music genre that spread through the Punjabi diaspora and into mainstream international markets. Bhangra is performed today at Punjabi family and religious gatherings, on collegiate competition circuits in North America (e.g., Bhangra Empire, Bhangra in the Burgh), and in fitness-class contexts.