The course is for students with an intermediate level of experience with dance. Parijat Desai will share vocabularies she is developing for her project How Do I Become WE, a participatory performance ritual.
She will offer movement practices to connect with land, individual somatic awareness, and community. Parijat pulls from modes she has inherited, trained in, or aspired toward including: garba (Gujarati circle dance)*, qi gong, yoga, postmodern / contemporary dance, martial arts, and bharata natyam. She is exploring ways to blend these vocabularies to create a process for preparing the body for improvisation, dance making and performance.
Class will begin with acknowledgement and sensing of our land/environment, followed by awakening the joints, muscles, and energies. Parijat will offer exercises and phrases that blend movement vocabularies and that explore principles like power versus softness, and fluidity versus clarity of posture. Finally, Parijat will teach garba and contemporary garba phrase material. These repeating phrases will travel along circular pathways and revolve the body on its axis.
*Garba is a regional dance form from Gujarat in western India, practiced by Gujaratis across India and the diaspora.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
—experience movement sequences that prepare the body for doing their own movement studies and choreographic projects
—develop capacity to embody a range of movement qualities
—learn basic garba steps, aspects of Gujarati garba culture, and contemporary garba phrase material and work with circle and orbiting spatiality
—absorb hybrid movement, musical, and cultural aesthetics with attention to detail
—develop individual kinesthetic awareness and awareness of environment and community
Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Corequisites: Dance or Drama lab assignment if students sign up for 4 or more credits in dance.
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 1
M/Th 3:40PM - 5:30PM (1st seven weeks)
Maximum Enrollment: 20
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: 2000 , All courses , Dance , Fully In-Person , One Credit
Tags: community , dance , garba , hybrid movement