Performing rural art forms for urban audience

It’s mid week and I am writing about Bal Sangam. NSD’s theatre in education company’s efforts to bring to the national stage had a plethora of dance styles and traditional folk drama for urban children to see and to be inspired by. This year, 250 children from five Delhi schools also participated in the function. They prepared select items from various states and represented them on the inaugural day i.e. November 21.

The next day, I spent from 4 pm to 8 pm at the NSD where they were showing performances from rural areas to the urban audience. Four stages were erected at the NSD compound to hold these shows which start at 4 pm and go on till 6.45 pm and then the Abhimanch takes over with a stage performance of a play. For instance on the first day was play on Abhimanyu in the Purulia Chau style where all the characters wore masks and danced and also spoke dialogues.

The performance depicted Abhimanyu’s attempt at breaking the chakravyuha which he knows how to enter but does not know how to come out of it while Arjun, his father who knows about the secret code, is away fighting a battle somewhere else. The play opens with him being told by his guru that he has to fight the Kauravas. The Pandavas come one by one to persuade him not to fight and he sends them away. Next scene is with his wife Uttara to whom he bids farewell. It’s a long scene that is built up of silences and movements, demonstrating the emotional upheaval in the hearts of Abhimnayu and Uttara, because Abhimanyu has a premonition that he is going to die in the chakravyuha, which he does. The loss of a sixteen-year-old boy is mourned by everybody. This play was marked by energy and superb display of craft by the young boys of Purulia.

During the afternoon one saw a pretty good dance item by girls from Tamil Nadu. There was also a Manipuri boy who showed the deftness of his hands by moving a stick with two sticks in a circular motion, very fast. Other performers from Manipur also performed Pung Cholam which makes use of drums held by the boys as they jump around taking circular jumps and while playing the drums or ‘pung’. Their rhythm and patterns are unusual and very complicated. This was done by a group of 14-15-year-old-boys.

A group of dancers from Assam performed a slightly different version of Bihu dance. In it, two men come in and stand in one corner of the stage and another two men on the other side, then they start singing about the seasons, and then the Bihu dancers come and perform the Bihu.

They go away after involving all the members on the stage including four male dancers who precede them, and then they all leave in a single line and the stage is left empty for the background singers to complete the story. My help suddenly heard the drums playing in a distance and she said that t his is exactly how it is played in Jharkhand on festive occasions. Lo and behold as we entered the new space we saw a Jharkhandi performance of Krishna and Radha, and other characters like three monkeys and three of Radha’s friends who come on the stage with Radha. Then they dance in a circle and breaking the circle very often to get into a line, the dance is supposed to be a love-play between Radha and Krishna. But it appeared more like fighting to me. The movements are very vigorous and not at all delicate.

The next day, at Abhimanch auditorium a play was staged by the National Bhand Theatre, Kashmir, Angrez Pathar. Bhand Pathar deals with social issues portrayed through dance, music, clown humour and satire are performed in the village square. Angrez Pathar depicts the oppression of the Kashmiris by the Brtitish and also shows the love of a Kashmiri for his own language. Throughout the play the characters refuse to speak in English, even when asked questions by the Englishmen. The performance begins with the musicians coming

on stage and playing the tune Salgah Maqaam. Then follow the jesters followed by the British or Englishmen. The British are accompanied by an orderly. The jesters begin to ridicule the British for their misdeeds despite the orderly’s continuous beating of them and the other members of the reception committee for the British. The angrez ultimately gets tired of the non-reception of his English. The musicians play a fast tune to which the Britishers and their wives dance.

The play was directed by Shah-e-Jahaan Ahmad Bhagat who belongs to an old Bhand family. He received redesigning training in Bhand Pathar from Moti Lal Kemmu and Blawant Thakur. He was awarded the Bismillah Khan Yuva Puruskar of Sangeet Akademy in 2009 for his notable talent in the field of folk and traditional theatre of Bhand Pathar.

Most of the actors ranged from the ages of 9 to 21 are from the Bhagat families. Shah-e-Jahaan is also the group leader and plays a small kettle drum with the musicians. The show was very entertaining despite not knowing the language.

All the actors played their parts extremely well. In the opening dance all the actors got a chance to perform solo. They were all very efficient. This is the 9th Bal Sangam and it was held every two years and now it will be held every year.

2About 2 lakh people, mostly children have witnessed the Bal Sangam till date in the last eight issues of the event. Around 85 groups have participated and showcased around 672 performances till date.