JOIN USTribal dances are fun to watch as the costumes, the music and the exuberance make for a jaw-dropping experience. A trip to Chhattisgarh proved this.
While in Bastar, an opportunity to watch the Muria tribals perform their native dance excited me. Almost all Murias undergo training in community dances at ghotul, a tribal hut which is their cultural centre. There is a touch of reverence to these dances, too. For, they begin the dance with an invocation to Lingo Pen, the phallic deity of the tribe and the founder of ghotul; and by worshipping their drums.
According to their belief, Lingo Pen was the first musician to teach Muria boys the art of drumming. When the dancers congregate at a festive occasion, they beat the drums to signal the commencement of dance.
The happy dance
The dance I watched, har endanna, is performed to celebrate marriages. It begins with a group of boys accompanying the groom to the ceremonial place, carrying ritualistic offerings and gifts. The girls and the drummers soon join the merrymakers. What follows is a happy dance involving a variety of movements — from running to kneeling to bending and jumping. It’s more entertaining to watch the drummers dance.
The dance form sua, or sugga dance, performed by the women who hail from Maikal Hills, defines the elegance and grace of tribal women in general. Performed a month before Deepavali, it derives its name from parrot (sua or sugga), and features movements that mimic a parrot’s walk. The dancers clap their hands and move their heads like a parrot, and enjoy every bit of it.
In fact, groups of girls move from one village to another to perform this. The most fascinating bit of this dance is that it uses a single prop, a wooden clapper called thiski. The only other music heard is the rhythmic clapping of hands.
The group dance has one dancer in the middle who holds an earthen pot on her head. The pot, covered with paddy shoots, also has a wooden parrot in it. This particular dancer turns toward the row that is performing, and hence is always on the move.
This dance reminded me of the kaksar dance performed by the people who inhabit the hilly forest region of Abujmarh, in which the dancers carry dummy horses on their shoulders and move slowly in a wide circle. This is to invoke the blessings of the almighty for good harvests. The costume for boys is white long robes, while for girls, it’s finery.
Colourful, melodic and eye-catching — tribal dances in short.