Hyderabad: Traditional garba is the crux of the pre-Navratri celebrations. Participants from mainly the Gujarati community hear stories retold about its traditional base and the need to preserve it.
Nowadays, though, Navratri celebrations are thoroughly commercialised and the dandiya raas dominates, based on themes from Bollywood. Navratri begins on September 29 and ends on October 7.
To revive garba, Bina Mehta, a choreographer of traditional garba, ensures that the rituals which are part of an age old tradition are maintained and passed on to the future generations.
Ms Mehta is a traditional garba dancer. “The crux of the pre-Navratri event is to showcase the traditional dance and folklore, which is the main culture. Earlier, people would play in open areas around their homes. This is not possible now. We have these traditional themes, there are no charges, and we have youngsters who are taking part in large numbers,” she says.
It is difficult to perform the traditional dances in these times of discos and DJs. Fusion, mixing of Bollywood and even Tollywood songs, is the masala that dominates the Hyderabad scene too.
Krupa Patel, another enthusiast of the traditional style says, “The traditional music numbers have limited scope in these commercial events. For this reason we make efforts to get the young before the main celebrations, and there is a slow but small shift noted.”
Practising dandiya, traditional and otherwise, begins in June and there are videos for those who want to learn it at home.
