Joginder Singh Habbi

Joginder Habbi is an eminent Artist belongs to Hatti Tribal Community of Transgiri area of Sirmour, Himachal
Pradesh who is working as a Performer, Choreographer, Craftsman & Director. Especially he is working in the
field of Dying Folk Culture and Hatti Dance Forms for the last 3 decades. He belongs to a small farmer family living in
the rural environment of Himachal Pradesh. He started working in the local Kariyala Party at the age of 9 in which he
worked as a Folk Dancer & Folk Theater Artist. After working for some time in the local cultural party, he
continued to serve as a folk dancer in many cultural groups. Due to the changing environment and the tendency of
young generation towards western culture, he started to think about the preservation of dying folk culture and tribal
dance forms of Mahasuvi Zone and Hatti Tribal community of Transgiri Area. In order to fulfill this purpose, First of all
he established a cultural Group in 1998 and he started to present original folk and Tribal Dance of Mahasuvi Zone
and Hatti Tribal Community before young generation. After that, he started research on folk culture, traditions and
dying dance forms and met the old people of the area and gathered people who knew well about the ancient culture.
Hatti ki Natti, Thoda Dance, Sinhtoo Dance, Bharaltoo Tribal Dance and Dagyali dance are prominent among these
extinct Folk and Tribal Dance forms which are revived especially by the efforts of Joginder Habbi. Habbi does not
prepared only dying dances but he also designed the costumes and Masks used in these dance forms. After
preparing these dance forms he trained young artists and presented these dance forms in many stage performances
to promote these dance forms and get its popularity back. He presented the ancient folk dances of Himachal
Pradesh from a small village in the state to many parts of the country and also abroad. Under his leadership and
direction many cultural groups has so far performed more than 5000 small and big stage performances.