| Garba
Dance
Garba dance is a popular folk Dance of Gujarat.
It is a circular form of dance performed by ladies on the Navaratri
days, Sharad Purnima, Vasant Panchami, Holi and such other festive
occasions. The word Garba is derived from the word Garbha Deep
meaning a lamp inside a perforated earthen pot. The light inside the perforated
earthen pot symbolised the embryonic life. In this folk dance, ladies
place the pot with the lamp on their heads and move in circles, singing
in time measure by clapping their palms or snapping their fingers, to
the accompaniment of folk instruments.
The
actual performance begins at night after the women finish their house
hold work. All gather at street corners. A photograph
of the goddess or a lamp is kept in the
centre and around it the circle is formed. The dancing
begins with slow tempo and reaches a fast tempo. The
rhythm is kept by a Dholi or drummer who sit in the centre.
Some
times, women carry on their heads 'Mandavali' a
small canopy made of bamboo chips
covered with a red silk piece of cloth. They dance with
it and later put it in the centre. Mandavali symbolises the
temple of the goddess. Women wear sari in the Gujarati style. Each
community wears different clothes. In Saurashtra, women wear
embroidered petticoats (Ghaghara), a backless choli (Kapdu) and a
head cover (odhani) with lots of silver and head ornaments. Males wear Kediyum (shirt)
Vajani (trouser) and Rumal a
printed head piece with silver ornaments on the waist, neck and hands. The musical instruments used for Garba are mainly the drum or dhol
and Nal. But Rasa has Pavo (a double flute) Vansali (flute) Zanza (Discs )etc.
The drummer ties his drums around the neck and moves inside the circle beating
it.
Garba songs are mostly in praise of Mother Goddess
Amba describing her form, powers, and invoking her blessings. Also
there are Garbas describing seasons and social themes of domestic ands
married life.
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Tippani Folk Dance
There are certain folk dances which
typically represent the community activities
and their functional aspect.
The Tippani folk dance is a dance of such a variety in which women labourers
engaged in construction work, strike the floor with long sticks called Tippani.
They have a rhythmic musical process to escape the tedium of the toil involved
in their arduous task. The tribes in Gujarat have their own virile forms of the
folk dances.
The costumes and the instruments
used during these folkdances are also typical folk costumes which mostly consist
of a short coat called Kedia with tight sleeves with embroidered borders and
shoulders, tight trousers like the Churidars and colourfully embroidered
caps or coloured turbans and a coloured waist band.
Damru, Tabla, Nagara, and pot drum are among the instruments;
percussion, Ektaro, Ravan hattho, and Jantar are among the string instruments
and Pavo, shehani, murli, turi, and taturi are wind instruments used as
accompaniments in the folk dances.
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