Baripada: A group of artistes, with help from the district administration, is making efforts to revive chhau, an indigenous folk dance of Mayurbhanj.

The revival process began 18 months ago with the initiative of former district collector Rajesh Prabhakar Patil.

"The objective is to create a database on the dance form after identifying artists associated with chhau, their social and economic status and further their capacity through training and propagation of the art," said Patil.

A project called Chhauni was created with the help of enthusiastic artists under the guidance of chhau exponent Subhashree Mukharjee for the purpose.

Within one-and-a-half years, the members have not only created the database but they have also performed at several places in and outside the state such as National Centre For Performing Art, Savitribai Phule University, Pune University and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

"For the existing artists and for the young and budding artists, an academy called Mayurbhanj Chhau Academy has been established under the Chhauni project," Patil said. Chhauni has identified as many as 11,738 Chhau artists found 212 organisations in the district, including 180 active ones, were involved in this traditional folk dance.

"After grooming the first 200 artists, another 200 will be taken up for capacity building. The objective is to conserve and popularise the indigenous folk dance," said an expert.