Khattak Dance

All you want to know about Khattak Dance

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Khattak is a swift martial sword-dance of the Khattak tribe of Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is one of the Pashtun folk dances known as Atanr, not the classical Indian style of dance known as Kathak.

Katthak is danced to fast music featuring the piper clarion and drums beaten with sticks. Up to 40 men dance together wielding swords or handkerchiefs, performing acrobatic feats.

The fast tempo of Khattak distinguishes it from other Atanr which start slow and pick up speed as the dance progresses. Khattak dancers also lack Sanrry, the distinctive hairstyle.

The Khattak dance has three forms, Shahdola, Bhangrha and Bulbullah.

The dance comprises 12 steps requiring great skill on the part of the dancers. The dancer alternates between performing solo and syncronizing with the rest of the troupe.

In the Bhangrah, every member swirls while carrying swords. In the Derabi, two youths, each carrying a sword and a handkerchief, start dancing in front of the man with surnai while the rest of the troupe members wait for their turn. In the Laila, a group of four performers holding two swords each perform stunts while moving in a circle. Braghoni is the fastest and the most adventurous of all steps, which a single dancer performs with three swords. He swings two swords in the air while holding the third in his mouth. Bulbullah is the last of the twelve steps, staged without swords. The dancers sing a love song at a high pitch. At the end of the song, the drumbeat increases and the dance goes on.

1 History of Athan (Attan or Khatak) dance
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

History of Athan (Attan or Khatak) dance

A British journalist of Pashtun origin, Amanullah Ghilzai, traced the roots of Khatak to an ancient Greek dance. According to his theory, Khatak, or Athan, is one of the earliest forms of the ancient Greek dance, "Athena". The Greeks brought this dance with them to Bactria, ancient Afghanistan. "Athan", or "Attan", has been preserved in one of its earliest forms by members of the Khatak and other Pashtun tribes, including the Ghilzais. There are many regional variations on Athan, but the name remains the same. In ancient Greece, Athena had the same definition and reverence attached to it as Pashtuns accord to Athan. Athena seems to have disappeared in Greece during the Christian era while Athan survived in Afghanistan and Pashtun parts of Pakistan.^[1]