Sheikh Arif Bulbon
Shadhona, a centre working for the development of South Asian music and dance, organised a demonstration of ‘Raibeshe’ and other folk dances of the Bengal at Natmondol of Dhaka University on December 29.
‘Raibeshe’ is a popular folk dance especially in Medinipur district in West Bengal in India.
Recently Dance and Music Training Centre of the Indian High Commission in support with Shadhona organised a joint workshop on ‘Raibeshe-martial art dance’ in Dhaka. Sutopa and Dr Tarun Pradhan of Sarabhuj, an international dance theatre troupe folklore research institute, conducted the workshop. The demonstration was held by the participants of a 10-day workshop on ‘Raibeshe’ and other folk dance forms of Bengal.
Participants of the workshop along with dance artistes of Shadhona presented ‘Raibeshe’ dance at the Natmondal Auditorium of Dhaka University. ‘Raibeshe’ is a martial art form of Bengal and means ‘Royal Bamboo’. This is a martial art that was used by ‘lathiyals’ who used to be used by feudal lords to defend their little fiefdoms. Gurushodoi Dutta, an IAS officer, first documented it in the last century, who came across this art form in Birbhum in West Bengal in India. He collected the ‘Bolbani’ of ‘Raibeshe’ from East Bengal. The other dance forms that were performed during the demonstration were ‘Paik’ which was another martial dance and ‘Pata-nach’ which was danced by womenfolk and was named after the ceremony called ‘Shoi-patano’ or bonding with girl friends.
The participants also demonstrated a dance based on ‘lathi’ and ‘dhal’ (stick and shield) used in ‘lathikhela’ across Bangladesh, which was taught to them by actual ‘lathiyaals’.
Shadhona has been working for advancement of the South Asian dance and music. Eminent dance artiste and General Secretary of Shadhona Lubna Mariam said, “The long-term objectives of Shadhona include workshops and lecture-demonstrations on dance, music and theatre with the aim of increasing an awareness and appreciation of our cultural heritage. In this era of highly concentrated audio-visual exposure from various sources, it is easy to comprehend the decline of the classical and folk forms of performances due to a lack of proper awareness and training.”
‘Shadhona’ appeals to all music lovers to lend a helping hand in restoring the glory of performing arts in Bangladesh. A recent addition to Shadhona’s list of objectives is the promotion of Indian Philosophy, Aesthetics in particular, contextual to the present social reality in South Asia. The organisation has also been organising classical music concerts for several years, both for increasing an awareness of the music and for fund-raising, she added.
Courtesy: nation.ittefaq.com
