Joy of Dancing

Dandiya dance during Navratri In my last blog I wrote about Garba dance. In this blog I’ll tell you more about Dandiya, a dance form hailing from the Gujarat state of India. Many people think that both Garba and Dandiya are the same, but actually they are very different dance forms. If we look at the history of these two dances, we see that both originated in Gujarat and are performed during the Hindu festival of Navratri. Dandiya’s alleged origins can be traced back to the times of Lord Krishna. One legend states that the dance form originated from Lord Krishna and Radha’s ‘raasleela’ and hence it is known as ‘dandiya raas’. Today Dandiya remains one of the most significant aspects of any Gujarati celebration.    Lord Krishna dancing with Radha Originally performed in the honour of the Hindu Goddess Durga, Dandiya dance represents a battle between demon Mahishasur and Goddess Durga in which Goddess Durga emerged victoriously. The colourful sticks used during Dandiya represe...

Garba dance Gujarat is a state of India that is located on the western coast of the Arabian sea. Garba is one of the most celebrated dance forms in Gujarat. It is traditionally performed during the nine-day Hindu festival called ‘Navratri’. The word ‘nav’ means nine and ‘ratri’ means night. Thus, the festival derives its name from its celebration over a period of nine nights. This festival is devoted to Goddess Durga, whose nine forms are worshiped on nine days. The festival is celebrated in various ways across India, but in Gujarat it is celebrated in a unique way. Gujarati people follow the primary tradition of performing garba dance for nine nights to pay their respect to Goddess Durga.  The word Garba, derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Garbha’, means womb. This dance is usually performed around an earthen lantern with light inside it. The earthen lantern is called ‘Garbha Deep’. This lantern represents the human body and the light inside it represents life (fetus) in the ...