1. Introduction

I often find that people especially love dances when they get to play with props. There are a number of common props used in folk dances around the world. Some are used to make noise, others to create interesting visual effects, and still others to tell stories. In this chapter, we survey some of the most common types of props.

2. Noise-Making Props

On the noise-making side, we have items that you strike to make percussive sounds. Tambourines are small frame drums with metal discs on the side that jingle when the drumhead is struck. They also make noise when shaken rather than struck. The primary drum used in Persian and Kurdish dancing is called the daf, which is like a very large tambourine. These are also used as props and musical accompaniment when dancing.

• Video of Italian Tarantella with tambourines
• Persian dance with daf

In Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Greek dancing, drums are sometimes used for a completely different purpose. The large tupan drum is used as a prop to stand on, showcasing dancers’ agility and balance.

• Bulgarian dancers standing on their tupans

Leaving Europe and the Middle East for a moment, it’s worth noting that the use of percussion instruments as props is common in folk dances around the world. In Hula dancing from Hawai’i, and related dances from the rest of Polynesia, these instruments serve two functions. They establish the beat, but they are also integral to the storytelling function of the dance. In Hula, these percussion instruments are called ipu.

• Hula ipu

Castanets are frequently found in the dances of Spain and Portugal. They are small cupped wooden discs that are held in each hand, hooked by a thread to a finger. As the dancers move and shake their hands, the castanets click against each other. One finds similar clackers in dances of Asia.

• Video of the Spanish Jota done with castanets

In Türkiye, the dancers make clicking noises with spoons rather than castanets. Each hand holds a pair of wooden spoons with the convex side of each spoon bowl turned towards each other. One spoon rests, concave side down, in the palm of the hand, and the other is held between the two middle fingers. Movement of these fingers causes the second spoon to strike the one resting in the palm, causing the clicking noise.

• Video of Turkish spoon dancing

Closely related to spoons and castanets are the finger cymbals called zils, which are very common in Middle Eastern dancing, particularly in belly dance.

• Video of a belly dance with zils

Another common prop for making noise by striking is a stick. Sticks are used in Morris dancing from England, but they are also used for Garba & Dandiya dancing in India and in Hula dancing in Hawai’i! Typically, dancers either smack the sticks against the sticks of other dancers or, if they are holding two sticks, against their own.

• Video of Morris dancers dancing with sticks
• Video of Garba dancing (Dandiya dance from the film Bride and Prejudice)
• Hula Pu’ili Sticks

Perhaps one of the most spectacular uses of sticks is the long poles used in the Philippine dance, Tinikling. In this dance, two long poles are slapped together and on the ground while the dancers gingerly hop in and out between them without getting their feet crushed. The Călușari dancers of Romania use medium-length sticks, but they mostly use them for balance or to jump over but they occasionally make noise by banging the end of the stick onto the ground.

• Video of Tinikling
• Video of Călușari dancers

Another class of noise-making props are things that you shake to make noise. Maracas are an example of such a prop. These are small hollowed-out wooden instruments that are filled with seeds or beans. Traditionally, these were made out of small gourds but are now typically purpose-carved. They make a rattling noise when shaken. They sometimes accompany dances from the Caribbean or Latin America.

In Hula dancing, there is a shaking rattle called an ‘uli ‘uli. These are made from gourds, with their tops covered in brightly colored feathers.

• Video of ‘uli ‘uli rattles in Hula dancing

Many cultures also use bells that ring when shaken. These might be wrapped around the wrist as in Chinese dances. Or they may be sewn to straps that are wrapped around the shins or ankles. Such noise-making bells are called ghungroo in India, but they are also found in Morris dancing and related traditions.

Much larger cowbells are also found, for example, in traditions as widely separated as the Kukeri of Bulgaria, Krampus dancers in Germanic countries, and the Joaldunak dancers of the Basque people of Spain.

• Joaldunak dancing with large cowbells
• Morris dancing with shin-bells

3. Props for Visual Impact

Some props are present solely for visual impact rather than to make noise. These can be almost any kind of object that a community might use in everyday life, but ritualize for dance. Some common examples are hoops, garlands, fans, scarves, ribbons, candles, flags, banners, sheets, canopies, brooms, benches, logs, saws, and axes. The Basques have a very unique prop that comes from their agricultural practices: stilts! It’s thought that they wore stilts so they could keep an eye on their sheep. Other hypotheses are that they wore them to gather fruit from high vines and trees. In any case, they’ve converted them over to a prop for dancing!

• Pow-wow hoop dancing
• Hochzeits-Tanz garland dance
• Korean fan dance
• Chinese fan dance
• Chinese long fan dance
• Chinese ribbon dance
• Veracruz ribbon dance
• Armenian canopy dance
• Philippine flag dance
• German witches’ broom dance
• Irish broom dance
• Métis broom dance
• Holzhackertanz (logs, saws, and axes)
• Bankltanz (benches)
• La Bruja from México (candles)
• Gyovand from Armenia (candles)
• Mom Bar from Albania (candles)
• Pandanggo from the Philippines (candles)
• Basque stilt dancing

Other props may actually be extensions of the costume but are used for visual effects. In El Jarabe Tapatío, more commonly known as the Mexican Hat dance, the dancers dance around the man’s wide-brimmed sombrero. Extra-long sleeves are used for effect in both Korean traditional dance and dances of the Caucasus; they are used much like scarves to highlight arm motion. In Georgia, one also finds women’s long skirts and men’s long cloaks being used to give the illusion that the dancers are floating or skating. Mexican women swish their large skirts for a stunning visual effect. Sometimes shawls are used the same way, as in flamenco dancing.

• El Jarabe Tapatío (Mexican Hat Dance)
• Jalisco dance with swinging skirts
• Korean sleeve dance
• Georgian long sleeve
• Georgian shawl dance
• Georgian cloak dance
• Flamenco manton (shawl) dance

In other cultures, sticks, canes, swords, and even rifles are used as props to simulate martial events. Canes are particularly common in belly dance or in folk dances from the Arabian Peninsula. The canes are sometimes replaced by daggers, rifles, and swords.

• Cane dance from Dubai
• Arabic sword dance
• Omani dance with daggers
• Emirati Al Youlah rifle dance (رقص اليولة)
• Saudi gun jumping dance
• Persian knife dance

Sword dances are found in many other parts of the world, too. When you say “sword dance”, many people think of the Highland Sword dance, which is done to the tune Ghillie Calum. Rather than holding the sword, Highland dancers do intricate steps over crossed swords on the ground. Long sword dances are also found in England, where dancers hold the hilt of the sword in one hand and the tip of their neighbor’s sword in the other, then they dance intricate weaving steps over and under the swords. The tradition of rapper dancing is clearly related. Rapper swords (not to be confused with rapiers!) are short, very flexible pieces of metal with a handle on each end. Like longsword dancing, the rapper dancers weave in and out while holding onto the swords. This is also accompanied by acrobatic flips and jumps over the swords. The Georgians and other people of the Caucasus do both solo dances showing off their swordsmanship and dances where they simulate battles during the dance.

• Scottish Highland sword dance
• Yorkshire longsword dance
• Rapper dancing
• Solo sword dancing from the Caucasus
• Georgian sword dancing simulating battle

The Gaucho dancers of Brazil have a competitive dance tradition called Chula Gaúcha, in which the men perform a complex tapping and clogging pattern while dancing on either side of a spear laid on the ground. This is similar to the Scottish sword dancing, where an important skill is not to disturb the weapon with one’s fancy footwork!

• Gaucho dancing over a spear video 1
• Gaucho dancing over a spear video 2

Another interesting prop that might have a martial origin is the poi balls that originated with the Māori in New Zealand but are now common in many different styles of Polynesian dance. Their origin is a bit obscure, but they may have originated as weapons. A related tradition is the Polynesian fire-knife tradition, which is done by male dancers who juggle a stick with fire on both ends. Another fire-related dance tradition is fire walking dances like the Nestinarsko dance from Bulgaria.

• Poi Ball dancing video
• Polynesian fire knife dancing video
• Nestinarsko (Bulgarian firewalking dance) video

4. Storytelling Costumes and Props

In Chapter 6, on the dances of México, Central America, and the Caribbean, we talked about dance-dramas that act out parts of the Bible or the conquest of the Americas. In those dances, the costumes and props are critical to the narrative structure of the dances. But costumes and props are essential to storytelling dances from other cultures, too. In Eastern Europe, there is a dance tradition where a wedding opens with a ceremony, with the couple’s parents welcoming the bride and groom with a gift of bread and salt, meant to symbolize the ways they wish the couple to prosper and to warn them about the challenges of married life. The ceremony is typically accompanied by specific songs and dances. Other storytelling dances with props and specific costumes are related to religious rituals, specific times of the year, or superstitions. There is a tradition in Bulgaria, for example, that people in grotesque monster costumes called Kukeri dance through the streets at New Year’s and at Lent to scare away evil spirits. The Krampus tradition in Germanic countries, which occurs at Christmas, seems to have similar origins, although Krampus is now associated with punishing bad children. In Romania, there are several different traditions of dancing in grotesque costumes, sometimes as goats, deer, or bears, and sometimes as deformed old people. Some of these may be associated with successful hunts, or growing old and prosperous, and others with scaring away spirits. All of these traditions of dressing up in scary costumes at key celebration times may well be pre-Christian. There are other European dances that may well be pagan in origin. For example, in England, there is still a tradition in some places of doing “horn” dances, where the dancers carry the skulls and horns of stags and pretend to be deer; this could well be a holdover of an ancient religious rite.

• Ukrainian bread and salt dance
• Jocul Caprelor și a Cerbului (Romanian goat dance)
• Romanian goat dance
• Jocul Mosilor (Romanian old person costumes)
• Jocul Măștilor
• Jocul Mascaților
• Romanian bear (Ursul) dancers
• Bulgarian Kukeri
• Abbots Bromley Horn dance

Masked storytelling or ritual dances are found throughout the world, with examples being found in China (e.g., the famous Chinese Lion and Dragon dances), Noh dances from Japan, masked dance plays from Tibet, the deer dances of the Hiaki (Yaqui) people, and more.

• Chinese lion dance
• Chinese dragon dance
• Tibetan masked dance
• Hiaki deer dancing

Further Reading and Online Resources

• Dance description for Bankltanz
• Dance description for Hochzeitstanz
• Chen article on props in folk dance
• Dance Project Studios blog post on props
• Rowena Gander blog post on props
• Osende Dance Arts article on props in Flamenco
• Amongia article on props

Discussion Questions

Discussion Question 1

Do you think that dances with props are an unnecessary challenge for recreational dancers, or do they enrich the experience for participants?

Discussion Question 2

Many dances with props and elaborate costumes are performed on stage rather than in community settings. While they are clearly tied to specific ethnicities, discuss whether they represent “folk dance” in the different senses discussed in Chapter 1.