How a Tiny Piece of Cloth Became a Path to Connection, Expression, and Spirituality

The story of Shivangi and her journey with Dapo Star

Shivangi has always travelled solo, and for her, a trip was never just about ticking off a new place. Beaches, mountains, unfamiliar towns, what she was really chasing was the people and cultures she'd meet along the way. One of those trips, though, ended up changing her relationship with herself.

A Chance Encounter in the Mountains

It happened at a music festival in Himachal Pradesh. Shivangi came across an art form called Dapo Star for the first time, and something about it stopped her in her tracks, the rhythm, the flow, the way performers turned a simple piece of cloth into pure expression. She couldn't look away.

What started as fascination didn't fade once the festival ended. It stayed with her.

From Curiosity to Practice

Months later, in Goa, she got the chance to attend an actual Dapo Star workshop. That session confirmed what she'd felt in Himachal, this wasn't just admiration for an art form, it was a pull she couldn't ignore. The freedom of movement it offered her was unlike anything she'd tried before.

From there, she taught herself, YouTube videos, hours of practice, figuring out the movement on her own. But she wasn't entirely alone in it. Along the way, a few kind folks from the flow arts community, the ones who call themselves "flowmies", introduced her to more of the art and kept nudging her to learn and explore further, a contribution she doesn't take lightly.

More Than a Skill

Somewhere in that solitary practice, Shivangi noticed a shift that had nothing to do with technique. Dapo Star demands presence and a willingness to let go and the more she practised, the more that mindset started leaking into the rest of her life. The hesitation she used to carry around started melting away. She was stepping out of her comfort zone without even trying to.

A tiny piece of cloth had handed her something she hadn't gone looking for: confidence.

Where Movement Meets Spirituality

As she kept at it, Dapo Star became something of a bridge, a way to connect with people, express what words couldn't, and meet a side of herself she hadn't fully known. Through it, she also found her way into flow arts more broadly, and into a community around it that she describes as both brilliant and kind. It made her more open to experience, to emotion, to the moment she was actually in.

That openness is, in many ways, the whole point of flow arts. At its core, it's a form of active meditation, the kind of focus the movement demands is what carries a person into a flow state, where thought quiets down and only the moment remains. It's this quality that eventually pointed Shivangi toward something deeper: spirituality.

That pull led her to Rishikesh, where she completed her yoga certification. Yoga and Dapo Star couldn't look more different on the surface, but for Shivangi they work as two halves of the same practice, one builds awareness of breath and body, the other lets that awareness move and express itself. Together, they've shaped how she relates to herself and to the world around her.

Passing It On

Today, Shivangi runs Dapo Star workshops in Bangalore, introducing others to the same sense of freedom she found in it. She also teaches children, giving them a space to explore creativity and self-expression without fear of getting it wrong. And she still shows up at music festivals, the mix of music, movement, and people is what drew her in originally, and it's what keeps her coming back.

She has also hosted several open jams, bringing together people who practise Dapo to share the joy of it and learn from one another. Watching that kind of exchange happen, people connecting over something she once discovered alone, is where she finds a huge sense of fulfilment.

A Journey, Not a Hobby

Looking back, it's a little surreal to Shivangi how one unplanned moment at a festival turned into all of this. Dapo Star isn't just an art form for her anymore, it's the thread connecting curiosity to passion, fear to confidence, and movement to something closer to spirituality. What began with YouTube tutorials and a community of flowmies who believed in her now has her standing in front of a room, teaching others to find the same thing she did.

Transformation doesn't always arrive the way you expect it to. For Shivangi, it came wrapped in a tiny piece of cloth, one that taught her how to let go of fear and hold onto life a little tighter.

Looking for workshops, sessions, or music festivals? Connect with Shivangi at @shivangiflows.