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The name Zhana Ngacham comes from the zhana, black hats, worn by the dancers and the use of the ngachung, a small drum, during the Cham performance. It is another form of Zhana Cham, or black hat dance. Usually, the dance is performed by monks thus falls under the category of Tsun Cham, monks dance. Such dance is exhibited normally in fortresses, monasteries and temples during Tshechu, annual mask dance festivals and also during Drubchen, large ritual ceremonies. However, sometimes the monastic dancers are replaced by lay people if there are no suitable monks in the community. The dance falls under the category of Tsun cham, or monastic mask dance performances. The dancers wear a long brocade robe called phoe-gho with long and wide sleeve ends, a dorji gong, a crossed vajra collar, over the shoulder, and two phoe-cho or phoe-tog, bevels attached to either side of the hips that helps the robe turn smoothly and elegantly as the dancers twirl. The distinctive feature of the Black Hat dance is the black, spherical hat with decorations of stylized human skulls and peacock quills, and Thro-pang, an angry face wrapped around the front of the abdomen. Zhana Ngacham is usually performed by twenty-one dancers under the direction of Cham-pon, dance leader, and Cham-jug, deputy leader. In the seventeenth century, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594-1651) gave more importance to the performance of such dances and including them in the curricula of the central monastery under the title Gar-thig-yang-sum, putting mask dances alongside mandala proportions and ritual intonation, to their cultural significance in Bhutan.