BARIPADA: To uphold the centuries old Chhau dance tradition and keep the martial art form alive, Director of Odia Language, Literature and Culture department of the State Ranjan Kumar Das, on Thursday, sought help of the district administration to map manpower requirement and revive the training centres.
Attending a review meeting, Das urged the Mayurbhanj Collector Vineet Kumar Bhardwaj to ask the department officials to expedite the process of mapping resources, training centres and trace the age-old scripts of the dance form so that the Chhau Academy, promised by the Chief Minister prior to 2019 general elections, can take shape.
"It is important to find out the existing Chhau gurus, artistes and accompanists and the number of Chhau dance troops besides the training centres," Das said. As per the district Culture wing, at least 250 training centres and 210 Chhau dance troops existed earlier, of which only 15 to 20 are presently functional in the district including Uttar Sahi and Dakhin Sahi.
"At least 50-60 types of the dance form were performed over the years but those have now reduced to 20-25 types that we perform during three-day spring festival every year," stated the artistes of Uttar Sahi and Dakhin Sahi Chhau dance troops.
Das said that the Chhau Academy will come up and dancers, gurus and musicians get support as per government rules once these details are sorted. "The government has been prioritising preservation of art, culture and literature and wants to generate more dancers, gurus and musicians to boost the Project Chhauni. Besides, diploma and degrees in Chhau will be provided by the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi," the director added.
Secretary of the Akademi Probodh Kumar Rath, Chhau dance troops, executive director of Project Chhauni Subhasree Mukherjee and district administration officials were present at the meeting.