A traditional Indian Chhau dance show will be staged at National Palace Museum Jan. 27 in Taipei City as part of efforts to strengthen cultural exchanges between Taiwan and the South Asian nation.
Jointly organized by NPM and India-Taipei Association, “Chhau Nritya: Dancing Tales from India” will be presented by Sarberiya Milan Sangha Chhau Nritya Party—a troupe sponsored by New Delhi-headquartered India Council for Cultural Relations. According to NPM, the complimentary show will offer fascinating insights into traditional Indian arts and culture.
Originating in eastern India, Chhau features dancers in colorful masks and costumes performing movements inspired by animals, birds, martial arts and tribal and folk customs. The practice was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010.
Chhau shows typically depict episodes from classic Hindu epics. The NPM event will comprise three sections: “Mahishasura Vadh,” the mythical tale of the buffalo demon Mahishasura and his death at the hands of the Goddess Durga; “Kirata Arjuna Saga,” a story from the Sanskrit text Mahabharata about the heroic archer Arjuna; and “Abhimanyu Vadh,” another legend from the Mahabharata about Arjuna’s son, the warrior Abhimanyu.
The Indian troupe will stage another performance of the show the following day at Dream Community, an artistic venue in New Taipei City’s Xizhi District.
Established in 1965, NPM is the world’s largest treasure house of Chinese imperial art, boasting 650,000 antiquities covering 7,000 years from the prehistoric Neolithic period to the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). In 2015, the institution opened a second branch in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County to showcase artifacts from diverse Asian civilizations. (CPY-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw