Traditional Cup Dance

Another popular Western Mongolian dance is performed with cups. You may come across old men and women in the countryside who will tell you with fascination what magnificent dancers performed it in the past when it was very much in vogue. They balanced cups full of water on their heads without spilling a single drop. The dance varies depending on whether the cups are balanced on the head, hands, or knees. The Derbets, Zakhchins and Torguts dance with the cups on their heads and the backs of their hands, while the Bayads balance the cups on their knees. Significantly, only males danced with cups on their knees. The dancers squatted as low as possible, spreading their legs apart to the width of their shoulders, which was thought improper for females to do. In olden days, the dance with cups on the knees was performed on festive occasions, such as feasts and wedding parties.An interesting tradition arose in the past in connection with the cup dance. A group gathering in a ger on a festive occasion formed two teams and held a dancing competition. They usually started with the cups on the palms of their hands. Then they danced with cups on their heads and on their knees, which was much more difficult to do. Those who had spilled the least water from their cups were proclaimed the winners.Each dance is distinguished by extraordinary flexibility, composition, and color. When examining the dances, it is useful to recall that the traditional manner of performing Biyelgee and other dances has been handed down from generation to generation and reaches us in a somewhat modified form.
Through story, music, and dance, the wide range of personalities of the characters are depicted. To symbolize positive and negative attributes, characters from popular stories, and animals such as the Khangarid (lord of flies), lion (the king of wild animal), stag (the beauty among animals), crow (the soothsayer) and various domestic animals are imitated. Furthermore, the colors and decoration of the costumes are clues as to the nature of the personalities of the characters.