Karnataka   

Agility adds to their charm

Cultural treat: Children performing ‘Gotipua’ as part of ‘Sharana Samskriti Utsava’ in Chirtradurga

Chitradurga: When these children from Orissa perform the ancient folk dance of “Gotipua,” their acrobatic skills take everyone by surprise. The fact that all of them are boys dressed up like girls adds to the charm.

The six children are part of Orissa’s “Konark Natya Pandal,” a folk dance troupe that is here to perform at the “Sharana Samskriti Utsava” being organised here.

“This folk art which originated in Puri district of Orissa is around two-and-a-half centuries old. It was an integral part of the Oriya tradition that was promoted by landlords and rulers”, said Ramani Ranjan Jha, assist director of the pandal.

In ancient days, the art was performed only by Devadasis and it was confined to temples and religious institutions. But later, they were forced to perform outside temples.

This was not acceptable to many and gradually women stopped performing the dance in temples.

“To continue the tradition, boys were dressed up as women and made to perform the art form.”

Mr. Jha said that according to the tradition, only boys below 14 were allowed to perform the dance. Earlier, facial expression was given more importance. Later, acrobatics was introduced to keep in tune with the changing times, he said. Mr. Jha, whose troupe has performed in several parts of the country and abroad, said that Orissa had around 300 performers of the art, working for over 30 groups.

“With the objective of keeping the art alive, senior members of the troupe are convincing parents to send their children to learn the art. We are even taking care of their education and other expenses to make sure they also get good education”, he said.

Mr. Jha said that the art was getting encouraging response at thre national and international levels.

“Even the Orissa Government is promoting the art form that is part of the State’s rich heritage”, he added.

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