Tribal artistes perform at the opening ceremony in Ranchi on Saturday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Feb. 12: After travelling across the world, showcasing Jharkhand’s rich folk heritage, Kunjban — a dance troupe led by eminent folk artiste Mukund Nayak — had its moment of fame on the national stage or the stage of the 34th National Games to be more precise, here today.

The performance, which Nayak dubbed as a thing which “he would cherish for a lifetime”, left the audience spellbound at the opening ceremony of the Games.

“We have performed on both national and international stages, but this is different. Performing at the national Games gives you a different feeling altogether,” said a visibly ecstatic Nayak.

He added that his group had never performed before an audience such huge in number

“Performing in front of any crowd, national or international, is always a proud moment for us, but today’s performance was simply inexplicable,” Nayak said.

The troupe, consisting of 150 artistes, set its performance rolling with Akra puja, which according to Nayak was a ritual dance to worship mother earth, its deities and its ancestors.

This was followed by a special Nagpuri dance performed on a number, which was composed and sung by Nayak, which was meant to welcome players and guests.

But, the highlight of the group’s performance were the Paika and Chhau dance spectacles performed by the troupe artistes, which was followed by the Karsa and the Mundari forms.

However, Nayak had a note of grudge against the poor management of the event and the organising committee.

“We were not given access to the stage for rehearsals. That apart, everything was chaotic till the very last moment,” said Nayak.

But, the bunch of debutante dancers was not complaining. After all, it is not daily that you get to rub shoulders with B-town stars on the same platform.

“I always dreamt of meeting the tinsel town stars. But I had never imagined that I would get a chance to share the same stage as them. This will be something which will be remembered by me for the rest of my life,” said Anand Nayak, one of the artistes.

Sharing Anand Nayak’s excitement was Sushma Kashyap, who was delighted to have been able to have talked to a couple of stars.

“Both Sameera Reddy and Sukhwinder Singh are very down to earth people. They appreciated our dance performances,” she said.