The Chhau Dance is a tribal dance in eastern India ( Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal ) that incorporates elements of martial arts into its movements.
- Chhau enacts episodes from epics including the Mahabharata and Ramayana, local folklore and abstract themes.
- UNESCO inscribed Chhau in2010 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.Masks form an integral part of Chhau Dance in Seraikella and Purulia.
- Its origin is traceable to indigenous forms of dance and martial practices.Its vocabulary of movement includes mock combat techniques, stylized gaits of birds and animals and movements modelled on the chores of village housewives.
- The dance is usually performed at night in an open space to traditional and folk melodies, played on the reed pipes, mohuri and shehnai.
- The reverberating drumbeats of a variety of drums, Dhol, Nagada and Charchari, dominate the accompanying music ensemble.
Chhau is taught to male dancers from families of traditional artists or from local communities. The communities that now constitute a large part of the present day population are mostly of this mixed descent and are associated with Chhau as Gurus/ Ustads or teachers, performers, musicians, instrument makers, mask-makers and costume/ ornament makers. The dance aspect is mainly practised by the communities known as Munda, Mahato, Kalindi, Pattnaik, Samal, Daroga, Mohanty, Acharya, Bhol, Kar, Dubey, and Sahoo. The musical accompaniment is provided to Chhau Dance by people of communities known as Mukhi, Kalindi, Ghadhei, and Dhada.
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