A Kathak dancer and choreographer, Gargi came into the field of art unexpectedly and feels that some life coincidences change the complete path of it. She runs her own dance classes and has participated in many competitions till now.

Gargi Tarun Thakkar is a Kathak classical dance teacher from Gujarat.

Gargi says that she was born and brought up in Gujarat. She has been taking Kathak classes for the past twenty-three years. She says that it is her effort to teach the next generation about Indian traditions and culture.

Talking about her childhood, Gargi says that they were two sisters, and she was the younger one and hence much loved by everyone. She was an average academic student. She has a Master in Organizational Behavior degree and a diploma in Human Resources. Gargi says that she had an overall enjoyable childhood.

Gargi says that she and her friends used to walk to their school, and once, while returning from school, she went with her friends to a dance class they used to visit. Gargi says that one unplanned visit paved her future path. Slowly, her interest in Kathak increased.

Gargi further adds that her parents were always supportive of her interest in dance. She gave her 12th board examinations and her Visharad in Kathak at the same time. She also credits her guru for nurturing her talent in the field.

Gargi shares that there was a time when she had to choose between doing a job in HRM or going towards following her passion. Eventually, she decided to follow her passion and feels that finding our right profession or passion helps us achieve better results in life. However, she further adds that she did use the principles of HRM in the Kathak field as well.

Gargi says that she has participated in and choreographed for different functions like the Rann Utsav and Vibrant Gujarat and has choreographed for many other functions of the government.

Speaking about her mistakes, Gargi says that she has not made any major mistakes in life, and the credit goes to her parents and the discipline taught by her father. She says that her father was true to his values and taught her to be honest and hardworking. However, a small mistake she could recall is that she did not give enough attention to her facial expressions, which are very important in the field of Kathak. However, she worked on the same and has now perfected her expressions as well.

Sharing about her role models, Gargi says that her parents are her first role models, as they taught him about life. She says that her father never forced anything on her in life. Next, she says that her husband always stood by her in every situation in life, and no matter how hard the situation might be, he always keeps himself happy and tries to share the same happiness with everyone. In her profession, she considers Kumud Ben Bhatt, her guru, as her role model. She used to understand the basic nature of a student very well and give every student the chance to talk freely. Gargi says that her Garba teacher, Asha Ben Sarvaiya, is also her motivator, and she has taught him how to behave properly towards their students.

When asked about her motivational mantra in life, Gargi says that she feels that we should always be happy in life and also keep others happy.

Advising the aspirants to the Kathak field, Gargi says that we should start working to get into the field of classical dance quite early in life. She also feels that it takes time to learn this dance form. She advises us to first decide which field we have to go into and then take the instructions of our guru seriously. Gargi also feels that we should focus on our studies and not leave them completely.  A right balance needs to be created between the two is what she feels.

Gargi says that we should have some form of art in our lives, as it brings discipline and dedication to life. She feels that it gives her the power to fight any situation in life.