BySukant Deepak

October 27, 2021 (IANSlife) Under the Tourism Development Plan of the Government of Chhattisgarh, a three-day National Tribal Dance Festival will be held in Raipur from Oct 28 -Oct 30 at the Science College Ground. It will witness the participation of Tribal Dance Groups from various states and union territories of India along with international participation from several countries portraying and celebrating their respective tribal folk culture.

The festival will feature multiple artists belonging to diverse tribal communities from across many Indian states and those from countries including the Kingdom of Eswatini, Uzbekistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Syria, Mali and Palestine who will come together on one platform for the extravaganza.

Areas like Bastar, Dantewada, Koriya, Korba, Bilaspur, Gariabandh, Mainpur, Dhura, Dhamtari, Surguja, Jashpur in Chhattisgarh have significant tribal populations with their own distinctive history, culture and traditions and in tune with the natural way of life.

Speaking about the festival, Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel said, “Chhattisgarh is home to many indigenous tribes of India contributing to the vibrant culture of the state of which we are very proud. The National Tribal Dance Festival will promote and celebrate the uniqueness of tribal culture and showcase the richness and diversity of tribal life of Chhattisgarh and other states to the world.”

In 2019, the first edition of the National Tribal Dance Festival saw the participation of tribal communities from across 25 states of India and six guest countries and witnessed an attendance of over 1 lakh people.

The dance performances will be held in two categories of Wedding Ceremonies and Other Prominent Rituals. The participants will don traditional attires and their artistic presentations on stage will be accompanied by tribal instruments.

The highlights of the festival include ‘The Tribal Dance Area’, Tribal Conclave - Food (chefs Manish Mehrotra, Chef Prateek Sadhu, Anoothi Vishal), Fashion & Textile ( Namrata Zakaria, David Abraham and Pareina Thapar) Art (Bhavna Kakar, Anubhav Nath, Priyanshi Saxena, Kiran Mohan) Beauty & Wellness (Vasudha Rai, Suparna Trikha and Sangeeta Jain).

There will also be a ‘Live Showcase Area’, a tribal-inspired exhibit, Shilpagram and Food Area.

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Sukant Deepak can be contacted at sukant.d@ians.in