Dandiya Dance – A to Z Challenge April 2018 #DanceKaPunchnama

Hello Peeps 🙂

My letter for the Day is ‘D’

Dandiya is a traditional folk dance of Rajasthan and Gujrat.It is performed especially in Navratri. In western countries, this dance form is very popular among Gujarati-speaking communities. It is called ‘Sword Dance’ also because people think it is a mock fight between Durga and demon king Mahishasura. The Dandiyas are representing here the sword of Goddess Durga.

How to perform this dance?

Men and Women wear colorful costumes and dance in a circle with multicolored Dandiyas. They strike the sticks alternately to right and left. The dancers form two imaginary circles and move their feet and arm in a choreographed manner. One circle moves clockwise while the other circle moves anti-clockwise.

Instruments:

A percussion instrument ‘meddale’ drummer, stands at the center of the circle and leads the dance with the rhythmic beats. The other musical instruments include dholak, tabla etc.

Costumes:

In this dance form, both men and women wear colorful costumes. Men wear turban/patti and kedia dress. For Women, the attire is lehenga choli with heavy mirror work with Bandhani dupatta.

Difference between the ‘Garba’ and ‘Dandiya’ Dance

• Dandiya is performed after Aarti while Garba is performed before it
• Garba is performed by women only and in Dandiya both men and women dancers perform
• In Dandiya, the dancers use Stick to perform but in Garba women use their hands and feet only.

Sharing here some videos of Dandiya Dance performance:

See what dance form I have shared for the letter ‘C’

What will be my next dance form for the letter ‘E’?

This post is in association with #BlogchatterA2Z

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Source: Indianetzone,Wikipedia