Reena (Reena Nacha)

Understand

Where Reena (Reena Nacha) comes from

Reena (also spelled Reena Nacha or Reina) is the women's folk-dance of Chhattisgarh performed at the Soa (the pre-wedding rite) of the bride. The dance is associated with the Raut and Teli communities of the Bemetara, Bhopalpatnam, Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa districts, performed by the bride's family and the women of the neighbourhood. The dance is one of the most distinctive women's wedding customs of Chhattisgarh, accompanying the soa ceremony (the bride's farewell from her natal home). The Reena is documented as a women's night-long ritual-and-dance with songs of new marriage and the family of the groom, and is one of the most celebrated Bhojpuri-Chhattisgarhi women's folk-dance traditions.

How it's practiced

Reena is performed by groups of women — particularly the women of the bride's family and the women of the neighbouring households — in a circle at the courtyard of the bride's home on the eve of the wedding. The dance involves slow and graceful movement in the circle with the singing of the Soa Reena song-cycle (a wedding-cycle verse form with the bride's farewell lyrics) and with the application of turmeric and the smearing of the bride with the wedding oils. The accompanying instruments are the dholak and the shehnai, with occasional flute. Costume is the colourful regional wedding dress of Chhattisgarh — the laal (red) sari for the bride and the bride's family, with the heavy silver jewellery of the region. The dance runs through the night of the Soa — the bride's last night at the family home — and the morning of the wedding itself.