The morning jam at Deer Park

Start to the day wasn’t all that auspicious – people had trouble finding the spot, because they thought the GPS pin was for driving directions, not for precise location. For future reference, we should indicate that the pin is exact, and provide walking directions. Should have anticipated this!

The weather was very cooperative, spot was perfect. Well shaded, lots of room for everyone. We ended up starting about 30 minutes late, people petered in. Lots of people entered from the Deer Park side, which meant about a 20 minute walk.

Attendance was great, and the jams attracted lots of people! That was awesome. The energy of slacklining, acro, hoop and poi together was super, and after starting out independently, the groups coalesced, and there was magic in the air.

https://www.facebook.com/rashna.brahma/videos/10154717952247934/

 

We should connect the groups so that they can regularly jam together. Here are their coordinates:

Acroyoga: FB group is Acroyoga Delhi, Rebecca Conway is the admin. FB is less active than WhatsApp, send me (Anuraag) your number to be added on WhatsApp. Jams are about once a week.

Delhi Flow Arts: FB group is @DelhiFlow, Siddhant Sachdev is the admin. WhatsApp is more active, request access link is on the FB group. The flow arts guys jam about once a week.

Slacktivism: FB group is @SlacktivismIndia, Enrico Fabian is the person who ran the group for ages. Vipin was helping us out yesterday, in spite of his shoulder injury! Not sure if there is a WhatsApp group. They meet about once a week in summer.

The afternoon at Delhi Rock

Had a problem with numbers for the hoop class. We’d closed the workshop registration, and had 3 no shows out of 9, not ideal. For future events, we will offer an online registration discount to incentivise people to pay early, so that they’re committed and turn up.

The class itself was great, Dasha felt positive about the format, inspite of some equipment issues (hoop size, tape quality, runner connects, etc.) We’ll do another hoop workshop soon. And we’re planning a workshop on rigging safety, so that’s fun!

 

Kids outreach was not good. The event seemed to draw young adults mostly, practically no kids or teens. So the kids hoop class didn’t happen, and capoeira was just one child. Weird, because we’d tried our best with our parents. Something to work on.

Body dysmorphia talk was superb. Didn’t know what to expect given that it’s a technical subject. But Jia, Zina & Zoya were wonderful. Honest and brave. I was inspired, and I think the audience was too, because we had several people share their personal and very moving stories with us.

Something I want Delhi Rock to participate in, body image is an important part of our work, and we need to be sensitised to how it works. Our space can be used for meetings and workshops, and I’m sure our teachers would be interested in helping. Fingers crossed we’ll do something here in the future.

Day started slowly, but as teachers flowed back in, festival pass holders, etc., it picked up and energy built. Late afternoon was nice, and good attendance at the end. Despite a slow start, day ended well. Teachers were uniformly amazing. So proud of the practices and quality of people we get to host. Serious and good stuff!

In truth the festival belongs outdoors. Perhaps next time we can experiment with a partnership format, involve food. That would *really* get Delhites out, to experience these incredible teachers, activities, plus their favourite thing of all, conviviality and food!

Or, we could do a winter repeat, not call it IFAD, our own thing. Same crew, go someplace awesome for the weekend, climb, slackline, flow arts, acro, yoga, the people we know and practices we’re familiar with. That would be fun! Cheap, accessible, active, community.

One of our friends very sweetly sent this! Consumed in short order as well.

It was nice doing the workshops, but also hectic and tiring all around, and in truth the logistics broke down a bit. Classes ran late, people waited, teachers got a bit tired, etc. So we need to be crisper about that next time as well, make sure timings are nice and clean.

Had a super conversation with a young person studying to be a life coach (what he called a habit coach). Excellent conversation which tied in nicely with the body dysmorphia talk, as well our day and the emphasis on doing positive things to drive out negative patterns.

Anuj, the life coach, mentioned a Delhi organic food farmers market, run by a dynamic lady who visits farms for quality control and knows everything about the subject. He mentioned IFAD to her, she was interested in collaborating with the Flow Arts guys and Slacktivism, to host jams, do food, etc. Sounds like fun.

Somil and Eshna ended with a fire poi and fire hoop session! It was amazing. Super dramatic. Strong fuel smell, and scary. Honestly hadn’t prepped, so no extinguisher handy. Really bad form to do it that way, will make sure fire safety is done properly next time!

Day ended for me with a conversation with Ganeshsir that we should keep doing fun and inspirational things like IFAD. Our next project is to build out a new bouldering area, and do a bouldering competition to celebrate that.

Alright! Anybody with other thoughts, please comment, I’ll edit as we go and remember things! And now on to the last task, bookkeeping and accounts!

Anuraag