Patronage will help revive tribal dance

Jamshedpur, Nov. 24: The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA), the national academy of music, dance and drama, plans to adopt three more ancient dance forms of Jharkhand.

Sources said Dasai, Firkal and Manbhum Chhau had overcome the first hurdle of getting SNA promotional push after clearing the baseline survey — the initial viability study —of the academy. The SNA had earlier decided to promote Seraikella Chhau and Rinjha.

The members of the academy from Jharkhand have expressed happiness over the SNA clearance, saying it would help in promoting the ancient dance forms.

SNA East Singhbhum district co-ordinator Amitabh Ghosh said under the baseline survey, representatives of the academy study the impact of dance forms in different areas and its acceptance among the people. “The number of artists and proponents is another important aspect that is taken into consideration by the academy,” he added.

Ghosh said: “If the dance form is adopted by the academy, it will be able to survive in the long run.” The experts would also study the type of support needed to promote the dance form. “The backing could be in the form of providing training to artists to make the dance presentable on stage as in the case of Dosai. It could also be giving a platform from which it may get wide recognition as in the case of Manbhum Chhau which has a large number of expert performers,” he said.

Ghosh said the presence of a large number of trained persons in Jharkhand in every dance form that has been approved by the SNA after baseline survey will make easy the process of final adoption.

“The SNA support will also give a chance to the artists to perform in front of international audience,” he said.