Teaching Dandiya at a Beautiful Indian Thai Wedding

I had the pleasure over the weekend to teach a little dandiya lesson at my friend’s wedding.  For those who haven’t tried it, dandiya is an Indian dance in which each dancer has two short sticks (or dandiyas) that they hold in their hands.  The dancers tap their sticks together with a partner’s sticks, or on their own, in a certain pattern.  There are many common patterns, such as the basic 5 count pattern that we started with.  However an individual or group can also invent their own patterns (as long as they work comfortably) and use them with a group.  I also taught a fun 12 count pattern that involves switching places with your partner and back again before rotating on to the next partner.

I was very excited / relieved / impressed that everyone at the wedding picked up the patterns so well and there were no disasters in the dandiya line!  It can be a problem if one dancer (or more) get off time, or forget the pattern, the whole rotation can get thrown off and the dance falls apart.  Thankfully this did not happen and everyone had a good time meeting different people and playing dandiya together.  I think this is a great party dance, as you get a chance to interact a little bit with a whole lot of people.  Specifically at a wedding, it is great to get people out of their groups and meeting people from the other family or sets of friends.

A big thank you to all the Gujaratis who have helped me learn this style in time to teach it to others!  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you…

The wedding overall was very beautiful.

Neal and Ann looked absolutely amazing in their wedding finery.  I could have stared all night at Ann’s beautiful dress and ornate hair style.  They also looked pretty cute later when they changed into more comfortable dancing clothes for their first dance (a very cute, choreographed swing dance number).

Because Neal and Ann met in our dance group, Decadance, they had the troupe there to perform various numbers.

They performed a couple pieces that Neal and Ann had choreographed, and also a brand new Dandiya performance piece that was very cool.

Made me wish that I had brought my Gujarati friends to the wedding because I think they would have enjoyed the performance!  Oh well, next time.

Best wishes for a long and happy marriage to Neal and Ann, and thanks for the awesome Henna lady on Friday night, I am so excited about the henna on my hands!!

Beautiful Photos (and hot salsa dancing) by Shu-Jon Mao.