Patamda (East Singhbhum), Aug. 31: For Agnishikha Chhau Nritya Party, an organisation under the Calcutta-based NGO, Tagore Society Rural Development, there’s no better ammunition than a martial dance to wage war against social evils.
Through the beats of the chhau, a traditional mask dance that once enjoyed the royal patronage in some eastern states, the Nritya Party, a troupe of dancers from Patamda, seeks to spread social messages among the grassroots and unmask the malices.
The group has joined hands with a number of other organisations, Tata Steel Rural Development Society among those, and is working on Rishta — a youth awareness project supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation from the US.
“Chhau is one of the most popular and effective means of entertainment in these areas. So we decided to replace songs and dialogues with social messages,” said Bhishmanath Mahato, assistant project coordinator with TSRD and the manager of the troupe.
Mahato led his performers at the Patamda High School yesterday to put up an awareness segment on HIV/AIDS, vaccination, malaria, cleanliness, adolescent and maternal health.
Two years into the novel initiative, Mahato admits that the people took time to warm up to it, but now it’s a crowd-puller. “Previously we had to drag them out of their homes for the sessions, but now it’s just the opposite,” he said.
An entire team work goes into tweaking the historical shades of chhau — the troupe specialises in the Manbhum chhau — into its modern-day connotations.
“Not only are the dialogues different, but the royal clothes and characters have given way to trousers and village folk. We receive inputs on various issues first and the script and the storyline are developed accordingly,” said Kanhai Lal Mahato, a member of the troupe, which once depicted the famous Chipko Andolan during one of their performances.
Next on their agenda, Kanhai said, are lessons on education and schoolchildren.“After this, we shall start our work on education and schoolchildren” he signed off.
