Masked identities spread awareness

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As we embark to celebrate yet another four days of worshipping the Goddess of Shakti in the form of Durga Puja, artistes from the tribal village Bagmundi in West Bengal are here in the capital to showcase their famous dance form called “Chhau”.

Chhau dance represents an interesting blend of folk, tribal and classical elements. Like classical dance, there is a certain amount of codification, but the dances retain great spontaneity, their movements painting vivid images from everyday life. The performances take place in an open ground platform. It begins in late evening and may continue whole night. The audiences sit on the ground encircling the performers in separate groups of men and women.
Under the supervision of Literacy India, the tribal groups from Bagmundi, West Bengal, will be performing the famous Chhau dance in Dilsad Colony on October 21, Palam Vihar D-Block on October 22, Noida Silver City on October 23, and Epicentre, Gurgaon, on October 24. “This is the first time that the dancers will perform in the national capital and that too on a occasion like Durga Puja. Although these people have performed in other states, like Jharkhand and Bihar, Delhi is surely going to be a big occasion for them,” says Kaushik Bandopadhyay, project manager, Literacy India.
The Chhau dancers from Purulia use large stylised masks. The depiction of birds and animals is a distinctive feature. There are also heroic dances with sword, bow or shield, with which dancers demonstrate their dexterity. Some of the themes include the depiction of mythological heroes, such as Parashuram, Mahadev, Indrajit and others, from the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics.
The mask is an integral part of Purulia Chhau dance. It liberates the dancer from the limiting influence of the face and puts a greater burden on the movements of the body. The body moves bring the mask alive. Purulia masks are rustic; their wide-open eyes give a sense of speed and gusto. In both cases a headdress complements the mask. The masks are made of pulp and indigenous colours and decorated with peacock feathers, jaris and hairs.
“We have a group of around 25 people that will go to Delhi to perform during the Durga Puja. In each group we have about 10 people depicting one dance form. We are practising very hard so that we can make a mark in the national capital and take our dance form forward,” says Rashu Singmura, a member of the Chhau dance team.
The music that accompanies Chhau is played on three instruments: A shenai — wind instrument, the dhamsa kettle drum and the dholak or dhol, a drum carried on a shoulder strap that is beaten by a thin stick at one end and by the hand at the other. The dholak player acts as a kind of picador or ringmaster to the dancers, running forward and shouting as if to goad them into dancing.
Although the dancers are quite accomplished now, the story of their evolution is quite dramatic. Once Chhau dance was very famous and some of the artists were rewarded with Padmashree. Some of the artists even travelled to different parts of the world to showcase this art form. However, due to lack of proper support and nourishment, this art form was on the verge of dying.
The artists were in a very bad shape and were trying hard to fulfil their daily needs. Due to illiteracy and poverty most of the male folk were spending their days in completely drunken condition (country liquor — Mohua is very widely used in these areas).
“The village Loakoi in Bagmundi Block, West Bengal, in inside dense forest — about two kilometres from the nearest village. Around 26 families live here, who had to struggle everyday to earn their livelihood. There is no school in the range of 5 kilometres, primary hospital is around 16 kilometres from here. So it was very difficult for these villagers to survive. The youth here had nothing to do except drinking and creating ruckus,” says Prabir Kumar Banerjee, project coordinator, Literacy India, who is continuously with the villagers, supporting them in every way.
However, with help of Literacy India, an NGO, the villagers urge to do something good helped them come back to live a normal life.
Now, after the involvement of all the people of the Loakoi village in Chhau dance, they stopped drinking and are investing their time in dance practice.
“When we saw some youth drinking the whole day and doing nothing, we realised that we should do something to help them. While studying the villagers for quite some time, we realised that they had the quality to dance — and that too was quite unique. Instantly, we started imparting them training in dance as well as other daily needs like food, education and electricity,” says Banerjee.
The villagers now are very happy that Literacy India has helped them in all forms to become better dancers and visit different places to display their talent. They now have hospital, road connecting to their village, primary school up to Class IV, plate-making machines etc.
“We had the knowledge, but Literacy India helped us to understand that and take it forward. We practice twice everyday — once in the morning near the river bed and once in the evening with our trainer. We believe that the more we practice the more we gain confidence and the more we are confident, the more we can take the dance forward and perform,” says Rashu Singmura.