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Performance at Chau Festival
Debilal Karmakar2019
Banglanatak
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
This is a scene from a typical Chau dance drama in a Chau Festival in 2019. Here one can see the performer's exceptional acrobatic ability as he takes a leap and is beautifully captured a few inches above the ground. The dancers usually wear socks which help them to perform their acrobatic steps on sandy earth.
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Details
- Title: Performance at Chau Festival
- Creator: Debilal Karmakar
- Date Created: 2019
- Location: Purulia
- Subject Keywords: Chau, Dance, Tribal, Purulia, Artists, Bengal, Festival, Mask Dance, Masks, UNESCO, ICH
- Rights: Banglanatak.com
- About the craft: Chau is an acrobatic mask dance form from Purulia district of West Bengal. Colourful masks, rhythmic drum beats, powerful acrobatic movements and somersaults are characteristics of the Purulia Chau. The traditional dance is performed at open spaces at the rhythm of various kinds of traditional musical instruments that include Dhol, Dhamsa, Charchari, Tikra and Nagara, Mahuri, Sanai and Flute. The stories are traditionally based on mythological tales. The dancers wear colourful masks representing particular gods, goddesses, demons, monsters and various animals such as lion, tiger, bear, monkey, etc. Chau Dance features on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity.
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