A record in the making?
Aizawl, Jan 16 : Twelve thousand pairs of feet will jump rhythmically between clicking bamboo stilts this March and etch Mizoram’s name in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest dance gathering in the world.
The occasion will be Chapchar Kut, Mizoram’s harvest festival celebrated to mark the end of winter and advent of spring.
Each year, youths gather at the Chapchar Kut festival to perform Cheraw Kan, the trademark bamboo dance of the Mizos. This year, the revelry will be on a scale never seen before.
To be held on the sprawling Assam Rifles ground on March 12, this year’s Cheraw Kan will have 1,000 dance troupes hopping on bamboo stilts.
Each troupe will comprise 12 dancers.
Last year, the largest dance gathering was at Cebu in the Philippines, where 7,700 people jived together.
To make Mizoram’s elaborate dance event a grand success, chief minister Lalthanhawla has granted Rs 50 lakh from the government kitty, the state’s art and culture minister P.C. Zoramsangliana said.
The government has also been in touch with Cultural Pursuits, a London-based consultancy group of the Guinness Book of World Records, to monitor this programme.
A group of consultants visited Aizawl last month for a briefing session with senior government officials on ways to host this unique show.
“A dance event held on such a wide scale will be the first of its kind in the world,” Zoramsangliana said.
The Young Mizo Association has been asked to take over the reins of the programme and draw dancers from various schools, colleges and cultural clubs.
The spring festival and its dance also have a brief history.
The Chapchar Kut has been traced by the Mizo historians to the period during 1450 and 1700, when the Kawlni chiefs lorded over region.
The bamboo dance sprang up in Mizoram in the earlier days of the pre-Christian era, which began in 1894 when two Baptist missionaries came to the then Lushai hills district under British India to proselytise the animist Mizos.
As a dance form, cheraw symbolises excellence, strength, skill and aspiration.
There are hundreds of songs to which Cheraw Kan is performed.
The songs mostly eulogise the bravery of Mizo boys and their love for their chosen one, at a time when flowers bloom in plenty during spring.
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