Dandiya Girls

We all must have danced our heart out as kids in weddings, festivals and family gatherings. Even in the crowd of maddening dance, there was one bunch who voluntarily used to decide to entertain the audience with their flexible moves and lively expressions. But do you know the truth, they were not entertaining the audience, they were making themselves happy because they loved dancing so much that the audience got entertained just by watching them.

These Dandiya Girls, a group of 7 also belong to the same tribe of dance lovers. Some are working and some are full time mothers but they still find time to rekindle their romantic relationship with their dancing shoes which they wore as kids and decided never to remove. They somehow managed to find time out of their busy schedules at work and home for rehearsals and hopped from one bazaar to another in Singapore for jewelry and matching outfits. Finally they rested at Gujarati Bazaar organized by Singapore Gujarati Society Ladies Wing.

Niti, Kartika, Ruchi, Aarti, Shaveta, Priyanka, and Sushmita performed a beautiful, energetic and colorful performance on the Dandiya Night 2018 in Singapore. They performed on a medley of songs choreographed by Niti. The girls set the stage on fire with their immaculately color coordinated costume which was a colorful ghagra skirt, black sexy blouse and those evergreen Jaipuri mirror shrugs.

The moment these girls were on stage, the audience knew this is going to be the best dandiya performance they have seen in years.

Niti choreographed the whole dance and made it look professional on stage. She is a tough task master when it comes to dance she is particular about everything from the clothes you choose to wear to the way you wink in the performance. Her expressions and clean dance steps will make you remember some of the great numbers performed by Madhuri Dixit. She is just puuuuurrrfect.

Kartika loves dance so much that she is performing with other groups also during this festive season. Being a South Indian, her moves on Bollywood numbers can put some great professional dancers to shame. Though she does not understand a word in Hindi but when it comes to dancing on Bollywood numbers, she picks up really fast just like dreamgirl Hema Malini and chaalbaaz Sridevi.

Ruchi, a bindaas dancer broke the stereotype when she stood on that stage in the ghagra skirt and Jaipuri Jacket with her spectacles ON. This is what we call Jab We Met’s Geet’s, “Main apni favorite hoon” attitude. And she etched the look completely. It suited the whole attire so well, that audience must have thought the other members forgot to put their spectacles.

Aarti has won several fashion galas in Singapore. She gave her best performance despite handling her second innings of motherhood. Her graceful moves and well coordinated steps could not even tell that she was the one who could not make for all the practice sessions. And that shining yellow ghagra skirt was tailor made for her. It looked as if she has landed for the performance with her perfect makeup, hair, and dress from a fashion week.

Sushmita, is an Odia, spent her growing up years in Baroda and Mumbai. When all the group members were waiting anxiously for their turn to perform, Sushmita was the most relaxed with her dandiya sticks in the crowd dancing on the tunes played by DJ with everyone in the hall. She swooned and moved the neck, the waist, the hips and the typical dandiya circles perfectly. Being a Mumbaikar, Dandiya comes naturally and that was evident on stage.

During the practice session.

Shaveta managed her time out of work and home to be a part of this event. Be it 7 a.m. practice at the tennis court on a weekend or an 8:00 p.m. in the parking, Shaveta was present after finishing her work. Her practice was evident in her dance performance on the stage. She always loved dance but could not continue it after her college. So she got a chance here and she grabbed it.

Priyanka is super efficient is managing and multi tasking. Her art of running around helped the whole group in getting similar clothes, jewelry and moves. On the stage she could not hide her big bong beautiful eyes and killing expressions. Her performance was so good that she could have pulled it off alone but as it was a group dance so she made a perfect sync with all.

Many of us loved dance as kids but how many of us are able to carry it with us till we grow old. All these girls are carrying it in their own way and keeping their dream and culture alive in a foreign land.

But do you know who were the most happiest when these girls were performing on the stage….their husbands.

Hope to watch many more performances and celebrations by these girls and if you haven’t hold those ghunghroo and worn dancing shoes for years, please pick them and restart now. Because age has nothing to do with the passion you had for years.

Whenever, wherever you find it right...JUST DO IT!