Classroom lesson · Sport · 🇲🇲 Myanmar

Chinlone - the dance with a ball

A circle game of six players, one cane ball and lots of fancy footwork

Six chinlone players in a circle, one kicking a woven cane ball into the air

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

Chinlone is Myanmar's national sport - but it isn't really a competition. Six players stand in a circle and try to keep a small woven cane ball in the air using their feet, knees, heels and shoulders. They never use their hands. The aim isn't to win - it is to keep the ball going as long and as gracefully as possible.

Tell me more

The ball is light and beautiful - hand-woven from strips of rattan (a kind of cane), about the size of a small grapefruit. It makes a quiet 'tock' sound when it is kicked. The players stand in a ring about 6 metres across and keep the ball moving from one person to the next.

What makes chinlone unusual is how artistic it is. Each player has a few 'moves' - a heel flick, a knee bounce, a behind-the-back kick - and they string the moves together like dance steps. Watching good chinlone players is a bit like watching ballet, only with a ball.

Music often plays at chinlone matches. The players move in time with the rhythm. The audience claps when a player does a particularly tricky move. Nobody keeps score - everyone is on the same team, even though there are six of them.

Chinlone has been played in Myanmar for around 1,500 years. Kings used to watch it for entertainment. Today, you see it in school yards, in town squares and at festival grounds. Anyone can learn - all you need is a ball, six friends, and a few weeks of practice.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Most sports have a winner and a loser. Why might a sport with no winner be just as fun?
  2. 02Chinlone is a bit like dance and a bit like sport. Can you think of any other activities that are both?
  3. 03What is a game you play that needs a group, not just one or two people? What makes it work?
Try this

Classroom activity

Play a quick game of 'class chinlone' with a soft ball or balloon. Stand in a circle. The aim: keep the ball in the air using anything except hands. Count out loud as the ball goes from person to person. What's your class record - 10 touches? 50?