Raas Garba is an Indian dance party, usually taking place before a wedding ceremony. Raas Garba is of Gujarati origin and all the Gujarati weddings are almost incomplete without this dance cum sangeet party. Women usually do this dance, although men are free to participate. Raas Garba is performed in groups, with each group dancing in circles, and performing similar well-coordinated dance steps. The people in the inner circle usually do the harder steps while the dancers in the outermost circle do not have much to do. They perform basic dance steps and clap. The music is really high, so keeps the dancers energized. The genre of the music is such that one cannot resist dancing and hence, everyone has to participate. People are also served with delicious healthy food so that they can keep their energies to the hilt and enjoy themselves well.
Designed for Comfort
The dresses for the dance are usually designed to be comfortable for dancing. Women wear chaniya cholis, colourful skirts and blouses, which are embellished with beautiful embroidery. The dress for men usually compliments women’ dresses: They wear kurta with collar less shirts and tight pants, which are called churidars in the local language. It is also advised to dance in barefoot, as the steps to be performed are complex and cannot be performed well in stilettos or are uncomfortable to be done in high heels. Hence, stockings and shoes is not a worry. But make sure that you do not wear socks on the dance floor as this might cause you to slip on the dance floor. Raas Garba is a combination of Raas and Garba. Raas includes dancing with sticks, locally called dandias. A dancer hits the dandia of his/her partner, while performing a Raas Garba step. The dance is pretty easy especially, if you dancing on the beats of a Gujarati song. Garba is when many groups are doing a rhythmic dance simultaneously. It usually involves repeating of basic steps.
More on the Raas Garba
Watch some videos online! In case you do not find them convincing enough, you can always join dance classes, to learn the dance steps. In areas, where the Indian culture in very popular, classes are not hard to find. You can always ask your Indian Gujarati friends to teach you Raas Garba, as every immigrant is the ambassador of his birthplace. No one can teach better Raas Garba than the Indians themselves. If you are living in India, it is really easy for you to learn. If you do not get to attend many Gujarati weddings, taking dance classes for Raas Garba is not a difficult task for you to accomplish. The Raas Garba dance is not really hard to learn as most of the time it is the fast tracked music that counts. If you are following the beats and the rhythm properly, left feet do not matter much. Above all, this dance is really enjoyable and involves great interaction of the other group members. All in all, the dance is really fun and embodies Indian culture in the best possible way.
