Guwahati, May 3: The opportunity to learn Bihu songs and dance forms now will not end with the month of bohag, but would continue for months.

Panchasur, a Guwahati-based institute devoted to collection, preservation, training, research and publicity of Assamese folk and traditional music, dance and drama, has launched a nine-month course on Bihu, the first-of-its-kind in the state.

Director of the organisation Probin Kumar Saikia, a known figure in the field of folk dance and music, said in the course they will train students on various Bihu songs and dances.

Numerous workshops are held in the city before Bohag Bihu, where participants get an opportunity to learn about Bihu songs and dance forms. These workshops, said Saikia, end# up in teaching only a little, mostly because of time constraints.

"We decided to launch the course where the students will be systematically trained," said Saikia.

The course was formally launched on April 26 by Jatin Goswami, a renowned Xattriya dancer. The classes will be held every Sunday.

Although Bihu has gained popularity over the years and the number of people willing to learn the folk art has increased gradually, there was no school or institution that could offer a course on it.

Gauhati University made some preparations to launch a course on Bihu a few years ago but the plan failed to see the light of the day.

Saikia said if students accept the course they would bring in all aspects of husori, mostly prevalent in the villages of Upper Assam districts, into it. Along with Saikia, classes will be conducted by artiste Rasmirekha Saikia, accomplished Bihu dancers Kanika Ingti and Sudeshna Gogoi.

"In the initial stage we will teach students Bihu songs and how to dance with various instruments like dhol and pepa. Our purpose is not to prepare students for competitions, rather to let them learn the subject in depth. It cannot be done within a week or a month. If we succeed, we will include more aspects," said Saikia.

As part of a five-year course it runs, Panchasur for the past three years has been conducting classes on various folk songs and dances of Assam, giving the new generation an opportunity to learn the forms.