In October, there is a traditional festival in Gujarat called Navratri, where we play Garba. Since my childhood, I have been quite fond of this cultural dance, and have actively participated in related events. In school, there is an annual Garba Fest which takes place during this time, and celebrates culture and tradition with energy and dance. I decided to take it for my activity experience. Two and half hours of continuously dancing and hopping really spikes your adrenaline and helps you to celebrate culture and enjoy. Garba is a very energetic dance and requires a lot of energy to continue for a long time. It consists of circling in concentric circles, mixing steps, hops and turns, often requiring energy. This activity is tiring and not easy, it requires dedication to the culture and dance. But, it helps you create memories and bond with classmates, sharing a common interest. So, on the day of the Garba Fest, we all dressed in traditional attire and began a long journey of energy and dance, commiting to our culture and worship, enjoying every tread with joy. It was very fun, with the music blasting and all of us sweating profusely after an hour due to the hard work done. There were also many challenges faced, such as blisters and wounds on my feet, which is common when one plays garba on concrete or rough floors. It was very painful after the event, but it was still worth it. This activity not only involves energy, it involves culture and worship. The event was beautiful, the decoration and food. After the event, I felt another sense of joy, ignoring the exhaustion. This sums up the Garba Fest and shows how an activity can be enjoyable in sense of tradition. This experience helped me cater to LO1, LO2 and LO4.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

As said above, I have been fond of Garba since my childhood. However, I did not have the energy to go on for even an hour up until recently. I did not know what my strengths were as of such, until I played at this event. Here, I found out that I had the stamina to go on for a long period of time if I enjoyed and was focused. I also found out that I could learn any pattern of garba steps in a couple of minutes and immediately join the circle to play. Usually, these patterns of steps are very hard to follow, but my strength was that I could join any circle and dance to any step with a lot of energy. Along with my strengths, I found some areas for growth which were that I could have practiced garba at home or at any other event, and build my strength and stamina. This was so that I would not be severely dehydrated and exhausted after the dance. During the event, I didn’t feel that something would be wrong, but after it, I was feeling extremely exhausted and was feeling dizzy. To prevent this, I could have built my strength and stamina by regular movement. Hence, these were my strengths and weaknesses that I identified, along with areas for growth.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

There were many challenges that I faced during this experience, but I also developed several skills in the process. The challenges I undertook were wounds and rashes on my feet, which was quite painful and lasted a couple days. Moreover, I was extremely exhausted after the event. However, despite these challenges, I developed several skills in the process. Firstly, I was able to develop my stamina and endurance, since after the event, I began to play more garba at other events for a longer time frame, even on the day after the event. Then, I was able to develop my coordination and balance, matching every step with the circle and creating a beautiful, harmonious symphony, while balancing myself when spinning and hopping in the air and on the ground. This is important in order to play perfectly. After that, I developed my rhythm and concentration, as I synchronised my steps to the beat of the songs, increasing my musical abilities and concentrated on learning the steps, increasing my focus while trusting my culture. So, throughout this event, I did undergo challenges but I developed twice the more skills.

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

During the event, I was committed to the experience activity, because not only I enjoyed it, I wanted to embrace my culture truly. And Garba, as an important part of my culture, helped me to commit and persevere to this activity despite my weaknesses. The event was over 2 hours long, and there wasn’t even a minute that I stopped to take a break. I played garba continuously, as I was enjoying a lot, totally committed to the activity. There was an extra 15 minute break, so I used that wisely to rehydrate for round 2. Some were such that they played one round and sat down for the other, or some didn’t play garba at all. I played both the rounds without stopping. At the end, I was sweating a lot, but full of energy and adrenaline. This shows my commitment and perseverance to the activity, with culture.

Overall, this activity helped me build my physical strength and several skills, including rhythm and coordination. It helped me embrace my culture along with a fun yet hard dance activity.