Suggi Kunitha Dance of Karnataka

Suggi kunitha is a dance performed at the time of a harvesting festival in Karnataka. It is commonly known as Suggi dance. It is performed for entertainment by the Halakki tribe.

The Halakki Tribe

Halakki tribe people are agronomists living in the coastal parts of the Uttarakannada area of Karnataka who have a very enriched folk traditioned past. They are followers of Lord Shiva. They perform the Suggi dance at the time of the holy Festival. The dance is performed by the Halakki tribe men.

Suggi Kunitha dance began with the migration of the Siddis group to the North Canara area.  Musical instruments being played in this dance form are mostly Bavangara and Dhamami. There are three types of this dance form.

Kire Kunitha is first and performed for one day. Hire Kunitha is celebrated for five days while the third style Bola Kunitha is performed without any costumes.

Suggi kunitha Dance Performance

Suggi dance is performed by a group of twelve to fourteen dancers who dance to the beats of the drum. The dance continues as they go from village to village with the beats of the drum and sing in unison and also gather grains and cash as they keep singing and dancing.

Just before the dance is about to start, the drummer is very spirited. He brings up the intensity of dancers by warming up the drum with rapid beatings. Hearing this, the dancers congregate while jingling the anklets tied on their feet.  Varieties of tunes and music forms are played to which dancers keep dancing. 

The dancers dance for a specific number of days. On the last day, the dance executed runs for the whole day and night. Most of the drummers keep chanting loudly to make the moment livelier. Dance steps used in this type of dance are compared to the sea waves, curves on growing vines, or rivers flowing directly relating its dance form to the varying aspects of nature.

Suggi kunitha dance movements begin with steps that are slow and then increase their mobility rapidly and then finishing with very fast-paced dance steps showing various parts of nature. The songs used in such performances are compared to ones in Hindu Mythology.

Suggi Kunitha Costumes

As each traditional folk dance in India, the Suggi dance also has an enriched analogy linked with nature. An exceptional turban garnished with ornaments of various colors, small birds made of wood, and feathers of a peacock relate to a tree is worn by the dancers.

The colors used in the turban are mostly red, green, yellow, and white relating to most of nature’s colors. The costumes worn by men are colorful specifically bright while they perform the Suggi Dance.