Kolata is the traditional folk dance

Folk dance

The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....

 of the state of Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

, located in Southern India on the western coast. Unlike its North Indian counterpart Dandiya Ras, it comes in two forms. First, it is performed with coloured sticks and usually involves both men and women dancing together. Second, very rigorous play of sticks only by men dancing to folk songs. Sticks here are thick and hard to sustain strong play.

'Cheluvayya Cheluvo Tani tandana', 'Kolu kolanna kolu kole' are very popular music for the soft kolata dance of Karnataka. Kolata of men uses 'Indara Gandhi kondavanna', 'Belisalagonda kare beeja' etc sung vocally along with the dance.

Cheluvayya Cheluvo Tani tandana kolata is performed by Kannada Kootas around the world for their Ugadi

Ugadi

Yugadi or Ugadi or "Samvatsradi" , Konkani/Marathi: युगादी yugādi, , formed by sandhi of yuga "age" and ādi "beginning": the beginning of an age) is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. It falls on the different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar...

 and Kannada Rajyotsava programmes.

It also is a family name with its roots in Eastern Germany

Eastern Germany

Eastern Germany may refer to:* New federal states of Germany, the states that joined the Federal Republic of Germany after 1990Historically:* Former eastern territories of Germany, territories lost by Germany during and after the two world wars...

 and Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. People with this family name are for example the writer Gina Kolata

Gina Kolata

Gina Bari Kolata is a science journalist for The New York Times. Her sister was environmental activist Judi Bari, and her mother was mathematician Ruth Aaronson Bari....

, the artist Jan Kolata^{http://www.jankolata.de/} and the writer Katharina Kolata-Gerlach.^{http://www.tapio-de.org}