Jiva Performing Arts, Inc.
Cultivating Depth: Dance in the Round with Parijat Desai
Cultivating Depth:
Dance In The Round: Contemporary Garba with Parijat Desai
Saturdays, 11:00a–1:00p
March 30–April 20, 2024
Jiva Studio - 27-28 Thomson Ave Unit WS11 Long Island City, NY
$225 | Early Bird Sale!: $200 until March 8
Single Class $60
(if need further cost assistance inquire about sliding scale)
Come away with knowledge of:
Common garba footwork patterns
The elements of daudiyu, popular traveling phrases
How group improvisation works in Navratri
Raas patterns
Grounding, invigorating somatic warm-up methods
This spring, Parijat Desai brings Dance In The Round to Jiva Performing Arts. Parijat offers her method of teaching garba and raas, and creating fun, meaningful collective-dance experiences based on the circle dances of her ancestral lands, Kutch and Gujarat, India.
We awaken our bodies with a warm-up drawing on qi-gong, tai qi, and yoga, circling joints and spiraling limbs. Connecting the inner with the outer, we also acknowledge 6 directions and our relationship with Nature.
We then shift to moving in swing and rhythm together: garba. We’ll learn steps and sequences that migrate around the circle. Building from these, we’ll learn a choreography and experience group improvisation. (It’s fun!)
On our last day, Jiva and Parijat invite family and friends to a Garba / Raas Party during the second hour of class! Students share what they learned in community, and guests are invited to participate (just clapping also counts!).
Future Opportunities
From these and future classes, selected people will be invited to join PPP’s community dance company. That group is offered opportunities to participate in performances or demonstrate for classes. Parijat is also seeking professional contemporary dancers for her O Ghostly Ancestor and How Do I Become WE projects.
In 2023, she created choreography for off-Broadway play, Elyria, and was a Visiting Artist at Bennington College where she began O Ghostly Ancestor (coming October 2024). In NYC, Parijat's work has been performed at Danspace Project, BRIC, Harlem Stage, Symphony Space, Asia Society and more; in other cities at venues including ODC Theater, Asian Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, California Plaza, Getty Center, National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai); Dance Centre (Vancouver).
Through Dance In The Round (DITR), developed with support from the Gibney Moving Toward Justice Cohort, Parijat facilitates participatory-dance experiences based on garba and raas, for community engagement, activation, and well-being. She also teaches contemporary dance, and offers creative visioning / team-building workshops based on DITR and the LifeArt Process®, a method of expressive arts therapy.
Directions to Studio from Court Square train Station:
Head towards the 44th drive exit from the train or towards G/& from the E
turn on Thomson Ave
Big white building on Thomson called Arris Lofts next to Court Square East
Once in building - Tell the concierge you would like to go to WS11. Head to 1st floor, go down hallway to WS11 (go straight out of elevator, take then another right and another right to end of hallway, windows will be on your right side)