Chho Dance : A Technical Analysis

(i) Sada Tobka

In oriya language 'Sada' means simple (here straight). Here dancer walks straight in Dharna position.

(ii) Lohra Tobka

The word Lohra comes from the oriya word Lohadi or Lohari, meaning the wave of sea. In this tobka a dancer alternatively keeps one foot on the surface and lifts another upwardly. This walking technique of dancer looks like the motion of a wave of the sea and hence, it is known as the Lohra Tobka.

(iii) Duba Tobka

In oriya language 'Duba' means to sink. In this Tobka a dancer keeps his foot very slowly with down head and then takes forward steps with straight head. It looks like awaking of a diver after sinking into deep water.

(iv) Ushka Tobka

Literary meaning of Ushka is to jump. Here a dancer makes o high jump having standing in Chhawk position.

(v) Dheu Tobka

In oriya language 'Dheu' means the wave. At the time of dancing a dancer keeps his foot alternatively one after another in a typical form, which looks like the motion of the sea.

(vi) Muda Tobka

Muda means to turn. For taking this type of movements a dancer takes a forward step after turning his waist.

After completion of Tobka, a dancer moves around the stage with bold steps. In Chho dance the movement of body along with all the limbs is known as Ulfi or Upalaya. According to Chho Ustads (Teachers), there are 36 types of Ulfies practiced in Chho dance. But in his article Pati (1995:60) has mentioned that there are 106 types of Ulfies present in Chho dance. Out of these 60 are main Ulfies and of these 36 are practiced by the present Chho dancers. All these Ulfies are inspired by the daily activities of human being and its surrounding environments.

According to Pati (1995: 60) and Mohanta (1995: 75) out of the 36 presently practiced Ulfies, 17 have been inspired by the daily chores of a rural housewife, five by the play and casual work done by a rural youth, five by the martial art and rest nine by the activities of animals and other creatures. This type of inspiration in dances from daily activities of rural people is very rarely found in other folk dances. This inspiration of the Ulfies by the daily routine work of a typical rural oriya housewife is as follows.

As it is her daily routine work a rural house wife gets up early in the morning and collects fresh cow-dung from the cowshed and mixes it with water. Then she sprinkles it all over the courtyard and mud floor of her houses and sweeps with a bamboo broomstick. Following to it, she soaks a piece of cloth in cow-dung mixed water and mops it on the floor of houses and Tulsi Choura. Then she cleans the utensils at kitchen and grinds turmeric with a Saddle and prepares food for the day. After completion of these home works of early morning she goes to pond to take bath, where she cleans her toe rings and bangles and then bathes by pouring water with her two soft palms. After taking bath she returns to her house and dries her long hair with a typical jerky movement of a towel, followed by combing with a wooden comb and putting a vermilion dot on her forehead. At afternoon, she pounds paddy in a Dhinki and separates the dehusked rice with a winnowing fan. Following to it she prepares a paste of ‘Aarua’ (sundries) rice mixed with water and draws ‘Aalpana’ (a decorative motifs) on the floors and walls of the houses (Pati 1995: 149-50). The details of Ulfies and their source of inspiration are presented in table 1.

"As the cooking process starts first the fire slowly heated the pot with water. With the rise of temperature the sound of water starts like Chheng Chheng, then Son Son, then boiling starts like Sain Sain. At that moment the cook poured rice in the vessel of hot water. Then again with the increase of fire the boiling of rice continues. At certain point the water with rice sounds and Tobki starts. With the continuation of measured fuel, the boiling rice comes to the surface of the neck known as Upli or Ufll. At that point the cook minimises the fire, the boiled rice then sounds like thak thak. Like the cooking, the musical rhythm acts as fuel for the warming up of the body. Then with the rise of the rhythmic beats the body locomotion starts. Then the story contents came and Abhinoy or acting with Tobka and Ulfi combined and with bortd and notkki of the music the dancers finished the dance." (Mahanto n.d. 6)

"Chho dance is basically a virile dance which demonstrates vim and vigor. It reflects a culture of strength with aesthetics " (Dash 1995:124). Both the ‘Taandava’ (vigorous) and ‘Laasya’ (softl) of Bharatmuni's Naatyashatra are reflected in Chho dance. Though the Taandava means a masculine and Laasya means a feminine character, both of these moods are displayed by male performers. For example, in some of the dance theme like 'Mahisamardhini', where goddess Durga dances in Taandava mood to defeat Mahisasura, at other hand in 'Rasalila or 'Banshichori' lord Krishna dances in Laashya mood. Besides, in some of the dance items both the Taandava and Laasya mood are played in a hybrid form. All these three aesthetic moods are very poetically named in oriya language as Hatiyaar-dhara, Kalibhanga and Kalikataa.

From the time of beginning of Mayurbhanj Chho dance there are hundreds of sub-dance items played by the Uttarshai, Dakhinsahi and other Chho troupes of the district. According to Kuanr (1994:15 - 16) they are three dance items: (a) Ekkaka or Daitya Nrutya (solo or duet dance), (b) Charikonia (Chari jonia) Nrutya (dance of four artists) and (c) Group Nrutya (group dance). This classification of Kuanr is contested by some researchers (Patnaik, 1995: 81-84; Pati, 1995: 160 and Mohanta, 1995:77) have also classified the Mayurbhanj Chho dance also of three types. They are (a) Phoot Naacha / Ekkaka Nrutya (solo dance), (b) Jodi Naacha / Daitya Nrutya (duet dance) and (c) Mela Naacha / Dalo Nrutya (Group dance).

As discussed here the Mayurbhanj Chho is enriched with a large number of sub-Chho items. Looking towards the public demand and changing human taste, the Chho Gurus and artists are introducing many new sub-Chho dance items to gain popularity, though this causes neglect of some old sub-dance items, which are ultimately disappearing. The traditional dance has no witten code. In this regard Patnaik's (1995) attempt is quite appreciable. He has tried his best to collect all the sub-dance items played by Mayurbhanj Chho dancers, particularly the two beginner Chho parties of Uttarsahi and Dakhinashi (Table-2). Though he has not been able to collect all the sub-dance items, the given list is very useful for the Chho researchers.

Reasons for Male Dominance in Chho:

As most of the dance items exhibit vim and vigour moods, in the earlier days this Chho dance had been performed only by the mole artists, even if, the role of female characters are also played by the male artists dressed in female costume. Apart from his own view Mohanta (1993:12) has analyzed about five basic causes responsible for the non-participation of female artists in Chho dance. These are the important factor accountable for their non-participation.

(a) Physical Labour:
Most of the dance items express the mood of vim and vigor and because of this these dance items are very painstaking and laborious in nature. For performing a dance item, an artiste has to practice regularly which gives pain to the delicate body of o female artiste.

(b) Degradation in Social Status:
In orthodox society an adult girl going to clubhouse or Akhara for practicing Chho dance or to go outside their village for performing Chho dance, is negatively viewed by the society. These girls are called as ‘Nachini’ – a dancing girl. Nobody agrees to marry a Nachini girl because of her free mixing with boys. Traditional people do not like their women to roam with dance troups and show their body to lustful eyes of men.

(c) Problem in Natural Expression:
In some of the dance items like, Premiko – Premika, Nishith – Milan etc. both the male and female characters jointly express some erotic moods. As because all these male dancers are belonging to their own village and sometimes, from their own kin and relatives, they would not like to dance with the female members of their own relatives. Secondly the grown up girt or elderly girl would not feel easy to express such type of dance items in front of the elderly mole members of their family and relatives.

(d) To Protect from Unsociable Activities:
As discussed above, the rural and tribal people of Mayurbhanj are very orthodox in nature. Looking towards the fast growing crime in society and unsociable activities happening in the day-today life, the parents do not allow to go their matured girls outside their houses which indirectly cause the non-participation of female artists in Chho dance.

(e) Disturbances in Education:
Presently all the parents are interested for female education and accordingly they are sending their girls to schools and colleges. To face their daily routine work and high competition the girls are also spending their time in studying various subjects. As Chho dance needs a regular practice, it makes disturbances in their study. Because of this some guardians do not allow their girls to take part in Chho dance.

(f) Disturbances in Domestic Work:
Until her marriage a girl in a rural family of Mayurbhanj gives a major economic support to her parental family. She helps her mother in her day-to-day household works. This participation in household activities indirectly becomes training for the girl, which gives idea to manage herself in in-laws house after her marriage. A girl should prove to be good homemaker not public entertainer.

New Trends:

Now with changed environment, people have accepted girl’s participation as a source of income. Chho dance has been widely acclaimed. Many Chho Nrutya Prathisthan or dance schools have been established and they are interested to include female artists and train them accordingly. These female artists are also trying their best to perform a good and attractive dance. Viewers also like to see female role to be played by women. The orthodox social views are now melting.

To falsify the concepts of non-participation of female artists in Chho dance, Mohanta (1995:31-32) has opined that "Many persons, even if those who are very closely related to the Chho dance believed that, Chho is such a dance which only express the mood of vim and vigour and hence there is no place for female artists. But from the close study of its Tobkas and Ulfies it is evident that, out of the six tobkas half of the tobkas i.e. Sada, Lohra and Muda tobkas express Loashya mood, whereas others like Dhew, Duba and Uska tobkas express Tandava mood. Like this, out of the 36 Ulfies practised in present time, almost half of the Ulfies express Laashya mood." Now-a-days many of the female artists are exhibiting their dance at different places and getting rewards. Example may be cited from Sulachana Mohanta, a female artiste of Chitrada Chho Nritya Pratistha, who performed wonderful dance in Tamuria Krishna at Banga Sanskriti Sammelan in 1973 at Calcutta and received prize from the honorary President of India (Mahato, 1987:49). The other renowned female Chho dancers are Sumitra Devi, Bimbadhari Sahu, Molly Mohanta, Dipti Das, Usha Mohanta, Susila Mohanta, Jayanti Mohanta and Malabati Mohanta (Mohanta 1995:32).