Oakland’s First Garba Dance Festival Arrives in Chinatown

Garba (pronounced gehr-buh) is probably something you haven’t publicly encountered in Oakland before. That’s because, well, there isn’t really anywhere that it formally happens.

Reetu Mody, a second-generation Indian American who grew up in Concord, hopes to change that. For Mody, who was raised around garba (a subregional Indian and Pakistani dance), the group-style folk tradition represents the East Bay’s inner vibrancy. And she’s determined to introduce it to a wider audience with “BomBay to the Bay,” Oakland’s inaugural Garba Dance Festival.

The city’s first ever garba festival will be hosted at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) in Oakland’s Chinatown on Saturday, Aug. 3.

“[Garba] is the spirit of Oakland,” says Mody, a community organizer and attorney who applied for a grant and assembled the festival in her spare time with massive support from the OACC.

“This isn’t about performance. It isn’t just something you watch,” she says. “It’s a living thing and you connect with others. It’s about the group. You all dance into transcendence together.”

The folk dance is actively practiced around the world, and hails from South Asia. It unites all age groups, genders and skill levels through simultaneous dancing in concentric circles. Garba’s steps are relatively simple, and follow “teen tali,” a three-clap cadence that involves a step-cross-step pattern.

Mody asserts that the dance isn’t limited to any specific religious denomination, locale or cultural demographic. Instead, garba is a dance that is meant to be open and welcoming. She encourages attendees to dress in their own cultural attire.

Importantly, the Aug. 3 gathering centers on the liberation of all groups, as an anti-caste, anti-Hindutva event.

But garba isn’t just solely reserved for monumental occasions. Mody recalls her mother breaking into garba after eating a good meal just as often as guests might extemporaneously perform it at baby showers.

Mody points out that garba is more widely celebrated throughout the South Bay — citing Fremont, Union City, Milpitas, San Jose and Sunnyvale as hubs of Indian culture — but it’s not something she has noticed in Oakland, where she has intermittently lived for the past 13 years.

The event is arriving at an opportune moment for Oaklanders, as the city’s political failings and exodus of professional sports franchises continue to take the headlines. Still, Mody says Oakland’s cultural offerings are unparalleled, and garba is merely a reflection of what the city’s diverse residents can offer to one another.

“We need to bring parts of our cultures that are portals to possibility, not portals to oppression,” she says. “You can only reach [transcendence] when moving together and being joyful together.

The festival will feature Madhvi on vocals, Asim Mehta on keyboards and Parimal Zaveri on percussion, local legends of garba from the 80s. A large dhol — the traditional drum used for garba — will serve as a musical centerpiece.

Dance classes will be offered at the start of the festival for those interested in learning the steps; participation is strongly encouraged. As a culminating addition, an “Oakland step” will be created and performed on-site.

“Each city has to have its own step for the dance,” Mody says. “It’s not exactly dancing though. It’s playing. It’s playful by nature. You don’t dance garba; you play it.”

Garba Dance Festival will take place at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (388 Ninth Street, Suite 290), on Aug. 3, 2024, 5–10 p.m. The event is free with registration.

Vendors, including Bandung Books, will be on site. Paisley Henna will provide donation-based henna. All proceeds will go towards Palestine Legal and Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance to support their work in Gaza.