Challenges

Garba-Fusion research - a research of Garba and contemporary

My journey

Not everything in this project was easy, there were creative and personal challenges throughout. Some of the challenges during this project were:

• Finding music with no lyrics that not only plays in a loop - finding music that can represent both worlds- in future projects would be great to collaborate with musicians

  
  

• Finding ways of connecting with the audience

  
  

• Fusing these two styles while remembering and keeping my identity

  
  

• Creating a theme that is not only about Garba but I uses Garba as an influence for my creation and movement ideas

  
  

• Confidence in myself that I can do it in terms of networking, sharing ideas, creation process.

  
  

• Finding other companies that brings Garba into a contemporary performance context - with a 'contemporary twist'- Later on I discovered that company Pagravdanceco is creating a new piece called Garbh, based on the spiritual idea of Garba.

  
  

• Making sure I am respectful to this folklore - that is why I contacted Parle Patel and other Garba artists to show them my research, seek opinion and keep learning.

I tended to focus in creating a piece of work instead of researching into the movement first to be able to, afterwards, create a piece of work. I was too worried about the music and the structure of the piece rather than focusing on the movement itself without a performative idea behind it. However, I realised about this and learned for future projects.

I have had the opportunity to teach this new fusion twice, and I've found that

teaching has enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of this fusion concept. I was able to

observe externally and identify methods to adjust to other dancers and movers. I realized that the most effective way to learn is to apply it both vocally and physically with others.

Conclusion...

Since the start of this project, I have grown in confidence progressively and gained

knowledge in many areas.

I have put in practice the idea of fusing contemporary and Garba and learned to

create new phrases that blends both techniques. It has become a work in progress

that is growing consistently. Now I have a deeply understanding of Garba technique

and history.

I have had the chance to teach this fusion and discovered that teaching allowed me

to learn much more about it. I was able to observe from the outside and find ways to

adapt to other dancers and movers. I discovered that the best way to learn and

research is to put it in practice vocally and physically towards other people.

I have learned to reach out and connect with professionals from the Garba and

contemporary community with better confidence to talk about future projects to keep

developing this idea and keep spreading the love for this folklore.

To be able to respectfully experiment with it and come up with interesting movement ideas.

 I believe I am technically more advanced in Garba technique and history. I have implemented the concept of merging contemporary styles with Garba and have learned to craft new phrases that integrate both techniques. However, it remains a work in progress that has been steadily evolving and will continue to do so in the future.

Thank you very much for following this journey! Hope for more in the near future.