The name garba comes from the Sanskrit term Garba Deep. Garba, when translated, most closely resembles the English preposition inside, and Deep is a small earthenware lamp. For this reason, many traditional garbas are performed around a central lit lamp. Traditionally, either the lamp (the Garba Deep), or an image of Amba is placed in the middle of the concentric rings as an object of veneration, thereby delineating the dance. People dance around the deity clapping rhythmically. At every step they gracefully bend sideways, the arms coming together in sweeping gestures, up and down, left and right, each movement ending in clap.

The Dandiya Raas dance

Modern garba is also heavily influenced by raas, this is played using sticks and dancing to a fast beat. The merger of these two dances has formed the high-energy dance that is seen today. (info from wikipedia)

For our Dandiya (the sticks used in this dance) my mom and aunt made these to match our outfits. The just took regular thick wooden rods and covered them with fabric and ribbon, for extra fun the put small bells on the bottom. This made ours stand out against everyone else’s clear plastic ones. Notice how they matched perfectly!

All Tour decorations were on bhandini theme which is a traditional style of fabric, I even requested on our invites that everyone wear something made out of that fabric to help us get in the mood for a fun night of traditional dance! Here is a picture of what bhandini looks like….

Garba always performed in circles with a deity in the center, under the deity we had a traditional rangoli. Rangoli is a design made out of sand and are very popular at Diwali (our festival of lights). In this case we used saw dust which is quicker to make such a large design. This isn’t the best picture of it but you get an idea.

Here’s another sample rangoli…..

We also brought some bhandini sari’s from India to use as decoration and brighten up the place. My family did an AWESOME job and it came out exactly as I pictured it! I cannot thank you guys enough for all you did!!

And last but not least a picture of the beautiful hand painted pots that my mom made!! They matched perfectly to the theme of the night and to our outfits again :)

We must have danced till 1 in the morning….I think everyone was running on pure adrenaline since we had to be up for the wedding the next morning, which meant getting up at 5 AM for me! Stay tuned for more fun!

All photos via author’s personal collection and Fine Art Productions.