TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Rocking with the 'Garba' dance
JP/Wendra AjistyatamaSix women dressed in sequined ghagra cholis â an Indian outfit consisting of a blouse and skirt â enter the stage with sticks in hands and stand in a circle to perform the Garba dance
Change Size
JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Six women dressed in sequined ghagra cholis ' an Indian outfit consisting of a blouse and skirt ' enter the stage with sticks in hands and stand in a circle to perform the Garba dance.
The dance was one of the highlights of the four-month festival launched by the Indian Embassy here. The Festival of India in Indonesia, with 'Sahabat Indonesia' (Indonesia's Friend) as its theme, runs until May, featuring folk dances, dance drama, exhibitions and more.
The religious-based Garba is a folk dance performed by women.
'The Garba dance is a celebration of womanhood and mother goddesses,' said Madan Ghildiyal, the festival's media representative.
The troupe's leader, Mahendra Patel, said the dance was also performed by unmarried women during the nine-day Navaratri prayers for the goddesses Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati, to find a suitable groom.
Patel added that women danced the Garba and prayed to Lord Randal 'for a child who is as brave and as powerful as the sun god himself'.
The program started with the first dance, entitled Vrindawan Raas Leela, which is about the platonic love between Krishna and Radha as they walk through the Vrindavan Gardens.
The drama was narrated through a song and the dancers from the Shree Patel Raas Mandali troupe slowly hit their sticks against the others.
After the first dance, the second, entitled Randal No Ghodo, was performed. The dance depicted a woman who wanted to conceive and who was praying to the sun god for a child who would bring a good name to the family.
The troupe, which came all the way from India for the festival, continued to the next dance, entitled Ram and Laxman, which depicted how Laxman found Sita suitable for his brother Ram.
To give the dancers of the Shree Patel Raas Mandali troupe time to change, a medley of dances based on Ganesha Chaturthi, Holi and Baisakhi composed by Acharya Pratishtha was performed by artists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Indian Cultural Centre (JNICC).
Many whistled, clapped and some danced while the JNICC artists swayed. Their dances created momentum to a lively performance, followed up by the Shree Patel Raas Mandali troupe's dances to Bollywood songs.
In between the dances, 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' was crooned by Ghansham and Bharti, which had the audience singing along.
The Garba dance program left many overwhelmed.
'It was amazing and the dancing was truly beautiful! The costumes were really stunning. It leaves you feeling very happy. It puts you in a really good mood and I loved it! It makes you want to go up on stage and dance yourself,' laughed Nicola Lingskey, wife of Major Mike Lingskey of the defense section of the British Embassy.
The Garba dance originated in Gujarat. The Shree Patel Raas Mandali troupe is from a village where there are 9,000 inhabitants, out of which 6,000 are Garba singers and dancers.
All the artists who performed the Garba dance at the festival are the fourth generation performing the same dance. Patel disclosed that the group was started 75 years ago.
'I have learned the Garba dance since I was 12 years old, while watching my mother. It is our culture and I would like to promote it even after I get married. I will teach my children the dance,' said one of the dancers, Nidhi Raghavji Bhadra.
'I take the dance as a prayer to God. I get completely involved in it and do not see any other person besides Him,' said Bhumika Aka Bhomika Vallabhbhai Bhalodiya, another dancer.
The present generation of Garba dancers has modified their performances to keep up with the times.
The troupe includes dances to Bollywood songs as part of their program.
'Our popularity may have been constricted with the demand for Bollywood songs and dances overtaking the folk dances, but somehow our troupe is never out of work. People still ask us to perform in festivals,' Patel said.
Ghildiyal said people perceived Indian culture to be synonymous with Bollywood, which is actually more entertainment in India.
'Folk dances and music are a long tradition which are actual Indian culture and very much alive in the rural areas and villages.'
