GIDDA DANCE
FOLK DANCES OF INDIA – GIDDA
Gidda (Punjabi-gidha) is a popular folk dance of women in Punjab region of India and also Pakistan. The dance is often considered derived from the ancient dance known as the ring dance and is just as energetic as Bhangra and at the same time it manages to creatively display feminine grace, elegance and elasticity. It is a very colourful dance form which is now copied in all the regions all across the country.
Mimicry is also very popular in Gidda Folk Dance. One girl may play the aged bridegroom and another his young bride, or one may play a quarrelsome sister-in-law and another a humble bride. In this way Gidda provides for all the best forum for venting of one’s emotions. Gidda dance incorporates village life scenes of woman spinning cotton, fetching water from the well, grinding, etc. This is accompanied with appropriate boli and songs. Girls or women generally form a circle to start performing gidha. All of them clap their hands and sing small couplets. These couplets are humuorous and spoken in punjabi language (boliyan or bolis). Then, two or three of them come to the centre and perform the dance.
These boliyan, or two-line poems known as couplets, cover a variety of themes such as the excesses committed by husbands and mothers-in-laws and other. The Punjabi salwar kameez (tunic top and loose fitting pants worn by women in India) or khagra (colourful skirt worn by women in India) in bright and rich colours are typically worn by women in this dance. Normally, no musical instruments are accompanied with gidha, except sometimes a dholak that provides the rhythm for the dance.