Dandiya first-timers learn their steps at these dance schools u00a0 With Navratri festival here, it is going to be fun unlimited for people in the city. Dance, feasting and, of course, puja will be the order of the day. And making sure that people are geared up to dance the nights away are some conscientious dance academies in the city. There's Nirali Someshwar, who is busy coaching different groups ufffd from children to adults. Surrounded by foot-tapping music all the time, she started her Happy Feet Dance Academy in 2004, in her own living room. "Happy Feet is seven years old," she says with pride. She has picked the styles Dandiya, Garba and Dodiyo to teach those who have enrolled in her academy. "Dandiya and Garba are the traditional dance-folk forms of the beautiful state of Gujarat. Dandiya in Gujarati means sticks and Garba means the womb of the mother and it is all about dancing in circles with claps," she says. "It's an energetic form of dance, dancing to dhol rhythms and fast beats. In the middle, a matki is kept in which there's a small diya which has holes through which the light filters out." She says the matki and diya were a must in the past, but nowadays it's all modernized and different. "This is there in all Gujarati houses for all nine days, and it's important that the matki should not break. We also keep chandi murti of Amba Ma and we do puja for all days and on the 10th day, we immerse it," she says. She explains Dodiyo means running in Gujarati and that it is the traditional dance Garba from Surat known for its beautiful dance style. "Dodiyo is done in circles where an entire group moves in graceful and swift dance movements," she says. "You see the graceful, colourfulu00a0 swirl of the skirts." The response to her dance classes she says is "crazy and very good". "The first batch is of 40 kids and the second batch is of 35," she says. "The ladies batch is of 25." She also gives tips on what they should wear. "My students picked up clothes, ghagra-cholis, dupattas, sticks, accessories and other things when someone from Ahmedabad had an exhibition here. People are really spending and they will attend functions and events where they will compete for prizes for best dancer, best dressed male and best dressed female," she says. Space Studio, another dance group, is also busy coaching people for the Navratri festivities. Swapnil Dagliya, who trained in New York in jazz, contemporary and ballet dance, started the dance studio and is conducting these workshops for the first time. "The workshop is not exactly Dandiya. It's a fusion of contemporary dance, jazz, ballet and Dandiya," he says. "This way, people are introduced to contemporary dance and Dandiya too. We are up on Facebook too, and the response had been very encouraging. We've had a number of calls from different people like housewives, youngsters, students." Swapnil feels as far as dance goes, in India people are exposed to different forms. How did the idea of a Dandiya workshop come to him? "It is the festive season, and someone asked me if I was starting Dandiya classes. And I did!" he says.

Dandiya first-timers learn their steps at these dance schools

Shall we dance?

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Shall we dance?

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