Term Paper on "Mask Dance in Indian Culture"

Term Paper 5 pages (1445 words) Sources: 1+

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Indian Dance

Mask Dance in Indian Culture

This paper is a quick information-based report on the Indian culture's Mask Dance. The nation of India has a long history associated with dance as a form of communication and expression. It is often the case that dances are more than just a fusion of choreographic movements - dance in India represents a way of telling tales of historical events, passion, romance and even tales of treachery and woe. Similar to the philosophy of the Hawaiian Hula Dance, dances like the Chhau and other popular folk and cult like dances have detailed histories and meaning. There are many popular and widely performed dance styles used by both men and women dancers throughout modern day India.

Dance in the culture has always represented some of the more inner reflections regarding the country's combination of historical turbulence mixed with the nation's religious and inner peace oriented factions such as Hinduism. "The Arts of India are the illustration of the religious life of the Hindus. Like their faith, the arts have been preserved for the past three thousand years, from change and decay, from foreign invasions, and from the fury of the nature. We owe its preservation to the future generations. for, it exemplifies how life can indeed revolve around the arts." (Kamat, 2004) in other words, dance in Indian culture is seen as more than just a fusion of detailed and non-meaningful movements; it is more a system for delivering aspects of the culture to the masses.

Indian Masks Dance

The Chhau dance is a dance that is said to have originated in the eastern regions of ancient India. The dance found its origins in the martial arts and therefore contains many strong and vigorous movements and leaps that require great feats of strength and coordination. Original Chhau dancers were always men; however, over the course of time, female characters and very diverse themes were instituted. Written accounts of the dance have been found in British and other national journals dating back into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Most outsiders' accounts are related to troupes of soldier like dancers who performed these movements on special occasions and local festivals sponsored either for or by Princes, Princesses and other royal courts. Most documented accounts were from the Orissa region where the political leaders had a keen interest in the development of this martial art form hidden in dance. Today, there are three recognized schools or styles of Chhau which are:

Seraikella

Purulia

Mayurbhanj

Tribal Masks

The dance has been called throughout many Indian cultural circles as the 'Dance of Masks' or the 'Mask Dance.' The reason for this is that Chhau literally means mask. The masks in the majority of Chhau dances are the essential element. The reason for this is because performers, in addition to being very athletic, where large and very decoratively stylized masks as a way of shielding their identities which adds an air of mystery to the performers and the performance.

The masks were usually interpretive depictions of natural things such as birds and other preying animals. "The mask is made of dark clay, which is pounded, strained, dissolved in water and made in to thick paste. The clay model of the character is fixed on a small wooden plank and cooled for 2-3 days to harden it. A thin kind of cotton cloth gauze is pasted on it and over the gauze 2- 3 layers of papers, then again cloth, again paper and over it a thick coating of clay. After the model is dry, the clay is scooped out from the hollow of the mask by the 'Karni' and then the mask is polished and painted with brush." (Chhaudance, 2004) of the three styles of Chhau, Mayurbhanj Chhau dancers would not wear masks.

The dances have stories choreographed into them. For example, one Chhau dance is the heroic tale of great warriors and entails the movements and props of real swords, bows or shields. The already difficult dances are only made more intense when the dancers demonstrate their dexterity with weapons.

The dances have historically kept true to their martial origins of Chhau through the tales of mythological depictions of great Indian heroes like Parashurama, Mahadev, Indrajit and many more. The hero's tales have their origins from Indian folklore and the Mahabharata… READ MORE

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