It is a festive time of year across India. Navratri (Nav means nine and Ratri means nights) is just coming to an end! People come together to celebrate, dance, eat and pray. Nine nights of traditional dancing - Garba and Dandiya Raas. These dances are circular ..... clapping and tapping sticks to the beat of the music. People offer prayers to the nine different forms of Goddess Durga. These days mark the victory of good over evil, light over dark. Happy Navratri if you are celebrating! #navratri #dandiya #garba #festival #celebration #india #musicmasti #incredibleindia #indianfestivals #cultur ..read more

Our summer dancing out at festivals & community events has sadly finished. If you joined in dancing #Bollywood & #Bhangra style, many thanks. We hope you enjoyed yourselves and learnt some new masala dance moves! Time to rest our dancing feet before the busy Diwali season in late autumn, celebrating Peace & Light. Diwali is the Festival of Lights and our Diwali School Workshops are the perfect way to celebrate and learn about this ancient Hindu festival. Workshops for schools are offered on many aspects of Indian life, including festivals, religion, and of course Bollywood and Bhan ..read more

We visited a residential home to give residents a taste of India from the comfort of their armchairs. India offers a wonderful journey for the senses with spices to smell, fabrics and musical instruments to touch and pictures of palm-fringed beaches and pink sunsets over temples to look at. The smell from our Indian Rose Oils brought back Valentines Day memories for many residents as roses had been received as symbols of love in the past. Roses are multifaceted, red, yellow, pink, while fragrance range from citrussy, pale and delicate, musk, fruity and intense. English roses are greener and m ..read more

During the Covid 19 Panedemic we have had to stop all our school cultural workshops, activities in residential care homes and community dance-a-long workshops. We have kept busy and positive with DIY and I have been working as a health care assistant at our local hospital. We tried a Facebook Live dance-a-long a couple of times as so important to keep moving and exercising at home. Looking forward to teaching and dancing again when it is safe to do so. We have also tried to keep creative and have been making some non medical face coverings with assorted Indian fabrics we had at home. 3 layers ..read more

Treasures of Indian Textiles at Lokotsav, an Arts & Cultural Festival aiming to celebrate those practising traditional crafts. We have had the opportunity to see an astonishing variety of handwoven fabrics, and meet some of the artisans who weave and dye them. It's like a fabric tour of India in the market as patterns and styles are unique to different regions of India. Fabulous sarees & garment material - Benarasi and Kashmiri silk sarees, Kanta (embroidery) work on silk-cotton razai (bedding) from Surat, to colorful handloom weaves from many states. We bought some hand woven tea towe ..read more

Celebrating #WorldThinkingDay in Bridgwater with local girl guides, brownies and rainbows. This day is celebrated worldwide every February and this years theme was diversity, equity and inclusion. We were delighted to be part of the afternoons activities. Everyone had the chance to dress up in Indian scarves, dance Bollywood style, learn the meanings of the some of the classical Indian hand positions (mudras) and learn some Hindi words. A fun and interactive way to explore the diverse world with respect for different cultures. #diversity #inclusion #dance #culture #girlguiding #somerset #boll ..read more

We enjoyed walking around bustling Municipal Panaji market, taking in all the sights, sounds, fragrances and colours. A labyrinth of alleyways to explore where you can find anything and everything - cashews (kaju), fruit & veg, Goan spices, bindis, bangles and hardware supplies ...... & a cup of steamy sweet chai of course for 10 pence. The market is by the Port of Panaji where vessels bring goods and fish for the market, holidaymakers arrive and ferries take locals upstream and away from the urban areas to the many quieter settlements, thus avoiding having to drive over one of the lo ..read more

Spring has sprung and during March I have been running some Holi School Workshops - known as the festival of love, colours & spring, Holi is celebrated by millions of people in India and around the world. Our workshops explore the colourful history and ancient traditions of Holi with education, art, music & dance. Interactive and colourful. LEARN MORE ABOUT ABOUT HOLI! Holi marks the beginning of Spring Holi is a Hindu festival that is usually celebrated between late February and the middle of March. The date is determined according to the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna. The Holi fes ..read more

Over the last few months I have been on the road delivering a series of interactive Incredible India! workshops throughout Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall and beyond. Our workshops cover all aspects of Indian religion, festivals (such as Diwali and Holi) culture and day to day life. They are interactive, multi-sensory, promoting cultural identity and cohesion. Children build on their natural enthusiasm for movement to music and creativity, developing skills of coordination and teamwork. We act out mythological stories, get creative with recycled sari materials, explore Indian artefacts inclu ..read more

Bideford's got moves (Bollywood & Bhangra style). Photographs copyright Graham Hobbs and Raymond Goldsmith Great day at the first ever #BidefordDiversityFestival celebrating difference - fun and informative with a Bollywood & Bhangra dance-a-long. Fantastic to join Energia Samba Band with the dhol drum for a vibrant, carnival atmosphere on the parade around Victoria Park - celebrating diversity and making some noise. Had a chat with Soundwave Radio whilst they were broadcasting live ! and answered questions about the history of Bhangra Folk Dance and it's integral part in Punjabi cult ..read more