It has yielded generation after generation of performers. Much of what represents the Indian folk, tribal and ritual dance tradition can be said to belong not to today, but to yesterday. It has the capacity for ever renewing and rejuvenating themselves while maintaining a continuity with antiquity and tradition. The staggering multiplicity of races, of linguistic and ethnic groups, of religions, and of social organization and structuring in India, account for an incomparable richness of folk music and dance forms. The tribal belt, which runs through all parts of India, are creators of the Tribal Dances of India.
Dance is an integral part of their life, daily and annual, historical and contemporary.
A third special group, who are part of the village community, but also close to the townships, served as craftsmen, entertainers, musicians and dancers, have been the chief repositories of the oral tradition. Thus folk comprises the common people, both inhabiting in the urban and the rural areas, and the folk art is common man's art. They are everywhere. The rhythm of the dance brings them together. Not trained and not professional, and not dancers by design, they continue to dance, as they have done for centuries.