How the Craft of Mask Making Transforms a Dancer

Documenting the transformation of a Chhau Dancer in Purulia, West Bengal

Dastkari Haat Samiti

Dastkari Haat Samiti

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Chhau Dancers

Chhau dancers lead a tough life. Their journeys and performances spread over months at a time. They travel to various villages and small towns, as well as to Odisha where their performances are received with great enthusiasm. It is still a world not dependent on television or the internet for entertainment, where live performers, and live audiences sit late into the evening, enjoying the excitement of watching battles, conquering goddesses, fierce animals and demons quelled by goodness, all in the midst of a multitude of somersaults, multiple back flips, twitching, bird-like gestures, and shimmering costumes.

 

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-26)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Performers pile onto a truck in which they travel, sleep, eat and live when they are touring. Their large onion-shaped drums are find space along with costumes and masks.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

As they prepare for a performance, they are watched avidly by an eager public. Drummers proceed in advance to energize crowds and announce the impending event.

Dancers take their places; the drumming and wind instruments announce their arrival.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The village ground is their stage - there are no curtains, announcers, printed programs or explanations.

The stories are self-evident, as audience members are aware of the epics and mythological stories part of India’s cultural fabric.

The audience prefers those stories where demons or wild animals are vanquished after a tough battle. The goddess always reigns supreme in the end.

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-26)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Preparing for the journey

Staging a Chhau dance performance is an elaborate affair, but even before they begin, the journey to the venue must be prepared for.

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-26)Dastkari Haat Samiti

When masks and headdresses are used many times, and show signs of wearing out, they return to the mask maker’s Purulia workshop to be refurbished and re-used for a few more performances.

Chhau Mask: Process of making the mask (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

A tailor in Purulia stitches or repairs costumes for dancers.

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-26)Dastkari Haat Samiti

A truck loaded with dancers, instruments, masks, costumes and provisions set off on a long tour where performances will be held in many towns and villages.

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-26)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Children from the artists' families travel with them to occasionally assist but mostly to have fun.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Getting ready for the performance

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The Chhau dancer may seem a mere mortal before he dons his mask and headdress, but the process and performance transforms him, into something more.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

A Chhau dancer's costume is elaborate, and made of many layers and strips of cloth that need to be tied together.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Many components of the costume of a Chhau dancer are tied on apart from being stitched.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The green room to get ready for a performance is usually just a quiet corner of a village or by the side of a road.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Children gather around to watch the dancers transform themselves.

Mr. Bhawani, the leader of the group (on the left, holding the hand of a child) is the musician. He usually manages their schedules and itineraries.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

A dancer is helped in putting on all his regalia, including the multi-armed contraption that depicts him as a divine character.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

A Chhau dancer pins his long jute-haired wig into place as he prepares for a performance.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Arriving at the venue

Musicians accompanying the performance set out in advance to announce the impending show as villagers join their  procession to the venue.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The performance's characters follow the musicians through the fields to the venue.

The sight - of them in their flamboyant costumes - creates a buzz among the village children who look forward to such entertainment.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The dancer portraying the elephant-headed god Ganesha is in full motion in a Chhau performance.

The mask and head dress remain secure despite the somersaults, multiple back flips and other acrobatics that are part of the dance.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

One of the steps for a Chhau dancer involves twirling full circle in mid-air to rhythmic drum beats, and landing flat on his haunches on to hard ground.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Particularly fascinating for children is the friendly Chhau lion who first pretends to instill terror in the audience.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The goddess, resplendent and powerful with her ten arms, rides on her official vehicle, the lion, as she goes to vanquish her foe, the demon Mahishasura.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Demons vanquished, the Chhau cast of dancers stand to receive applaud from their awe-struck audience.

As they pose for the finale, the members of the audience fill a basket with donations in cash in appreciation for being thoroughly well entertained.

The masks have done their job in transforming each man into a mesmerizing superhuman character.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2017-01-01)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Chhau Performance in the Urban Space

In large cities, the Chhau dancers become subjects of much fascination, especially among foreign tourists who do not often get to see such folk entertainment that emerges from the heart of India.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-08-02)Dastkari Haat Samiti

At a crafts fair in Delhi, the Chhau group performs for a completely different audience, which asks dancers to pose for ‘selfies’, carry smart phones, and look through a lens rather than at the performance, enjoying the art form as something exotic and long forgotten in the midst of contemporary culture.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2017-01-02)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The handmade Chhau mask along with the headdress is examined by a foreign visitor to India while on a visit to the capital city’s premier crafts market, Dilli Haat.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-08-04)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The Purulia Chhau team in Delhi, with Israeli contemporary dancers, who shared a stage with them at a celebratory event in New Delhi, India.

Chhau Mask: Chau performance (2018-08-03)Dastkari Haat Samiti

The goddess slays the demon, as Ganesha - the elephant-headed god - and the faithful lion assist her. This is one of the more popular performances the Chhau dancers present to urban audiences.

Chhau Mask: Community and settlements around (2018-02-27)Dastkari Haat Samiti

Credits: Story

Text: Jaya Jaitly
Photography: Chirodeep Chaudhuri, Charu Verma, Shubham
Artisans: Rajib Dutt, Sanjib Dutt, Partho Dutt
Ground Facilitator: Ankit Kumar
Curation: Ruchira Verma

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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