The Lavani, One of prominent folk dance form in Maharashtra, India

India is a country with diversified culture, arts and traditions in the world. Whereas, 28 state of India has its own cultural heritage, art, customs, religion, cuisine, language, traditions. . Folk dance is one of integral part of Indian. Without it, culture is meaningless. Folk dance represents cultural heritage of India. Maharstra is one state with rich cultural heritage of India. In Maharashtra, there are five popular folk dance form namely Tamasha, Lavani, Koli,dindi,dhangari Gaja. Lavani is most popular folk dance form in Maharashtra. The word Lavani extract from Lavanya (a Marathi word) .The meaning of beauty, charm, elegance, and loveliness. In this folk dance, The woman performing wear 9 meter long saree (nauvari), kamarpatta( belt) Jewelry, necklace, earrings, ankle bells and dark color big bindi in their forehead as traditional outfits, for this folk dance. The woman performing artist performed this folk dance with traditional song and charming rhythm of dholak/ Indian drum (a traditional musical instrument in India). There are two types of Lavani folk dances. One of Nirguni Lavani, which deals with philosophy and other, is Shringari Lavani which deals with sensuality. Shrinagri Lavani is more prominent than Nirguni Lavani. The Shrinagri Lavani is mostly performed in theater as well as Bollywood movies. The theme of this folk dance associates with the love between a man and a woman.

The performing artists in Slideshow: Miss Princy Prerna Tirkey (Choreographer & trained Classical katthak performing artist) and her dance group in their annual college festival at St.Xavier college, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.

 Nauvari saree is a Maharashtrian traditional saree with 9 meter long unlike the normal saree 5 to 6 meter long. Generalyy,Maharastrianwoman wear Nauvari saree in their cultural events like festivals or weddings and dance