Masks off: Seraikela dancers will have competition from Kharsawan counterparts

Jamshedpur, April 24: Kharsawan Chhau is stepping into the big league to join its more famous Seraikela counterpart.

The Seraikela-Kharsawan district administration in association with Seraikela Dance Academy has decided to pull out all stops for Kharsawan Chhau Utsav, on the lines of Seraikela Chhau Utsav.

Tentatively, May 13 to 15 will be the dates of the event at the Arjuna Stadium in Kharsawan.

Unlike the Seraikela and Purulia styles, where dancers are masked, Kharsawan Chhau dancers do not cover their faces while performing the martial tribal form.

The festival will also revolve around six indigenous dances — firkal, jhumur, paika, dasai, maghe and rinjha.

The festival started last year after a gap of five years. Around 250 artistes from 24 groups across eight villages of the district will perform at the Mahotsav.

“We are trying to promote the little-known Kharsawan Chhau as it has its unique identity, which deserves recognition,” said Sachinder Kumar Das, member of the Mahotsav organising committee.

“The festival will be an eye-opener for those who don’t know the difference between Chhau forms. To create awareness, we have organised performances outside villages,” Tapan Patnaik, director of Chhau Dance Academy in Seraikela, said, adding they planned to host Kharsawan Chhau performances in Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Dhanbad and Bokaro.

The vibrant folk dance form with vigorous movements and steps is also waiting in the wings of academia.

Eight Chhau exponents have prepared a syllabus of various forms of Chhau in the hopes of it being recognised by universities as a subject of study. But five years ago, a proposal was sent to Ranchi University to no avail. “We had submitted a proposal that the Chhau dance courses be recognised by Ranchi University, but there was no response. We are again formulating the syllabus afresh to propose it to Kolhan University. Once it (the folk dance form) gets recognised by a university, I think youngsters will start taking more of an interest in this epical dance form that performs the battle of good and evil on stage,” added the Chhau exponent.