Planning to head to a garba night this Navratri? Hyderabad Times caught up with garba centres across the city, where sessions are bringing together first-timers, seasoned dancers and children, all getting ready for the festive nights ahead.
Because they show that participants want to understand the dance, not just copy the choreography.”, i enjoy those questions.
“People are seeing our Navratri dance videos on Instagram and reaching out to join the classes,” she says, adding, “They ask why we do a particular step, how the movement changes and what makes one sequence different from another. With garba videos gaining traction on social media, choreographer and dance content creator Anchal Toshniwal, who conducts classes at Aarambh Dance Company, Himayat Nagar, is seeing learners go beyond simply following steps.
At 1Hundred Dance Studio in Madhapur, instructor Geeta Agrawal conducts weekend garba classes from 10.30am to noon. For Varsha Goyal, a student, Navratri is more than a festival — it is a childhood tradition she has grown up with, from dressing up for garba at the age of four to now preparing for the celebrations with a group of 30.
We start our workshops with basic hand and leg movements and gradually build up to formations such as hinch and teen taali towards the end,” she says. “Garba is not about getting every step perfect; it is about participating, enjoying the music and being part of the experience. “What I enjoy seeing is people from different communities and backgrounds coming together to learn garba, understand its culture and experience its energy. The response shows how garba is bringing people together and becoming a more inclusive part of Hyderabad’s culture,” she adds.
