What is ‘Irula dance’ and where and how it is performed?

Irula Dance is the traditional dance form of Irular, the community.There is no exact data available about the origin of this art form. In Attappadi, there are 192 oorus(villages). Each member from these villages gets together at night with singing and dancing until morning. This song and dance are called ‘Irula dance’. Temple festivals, harvest season and birth and death ceremonies are the main occasions where the ‘Irula dance’ is performed.

Is there any special training needed for this?

No. It is inherent in us. Thus, there is no need of special training. But in these days we are thinking of giving at least a primary training to the youngsters.

What is the present scenario?

Today, only a few number of youngsters are interested in this art form. To promote ‘Irula dance’, we had formed a group named ‘Azad Kala Sangham’ in 2004. To attract the new generation, we had made an audio CD about ‘Irula dance’ in 2006. This made a small change in the attitude of youngsters.

Tell something about your group and its activities?

Our group consists of 25 members which includes both male and female artists. Usually we perform with a 16 member team. We follows the rotation system. All of the members are engaged in other jobs because we can’t make our bread out of this. Our group have travelled all over the country and have participated in several festivals conducted by tourism department, SangeethNatak Academy etc.

What are the difficulties you face? How does the audience respond?

‘Irula dance’ is something different from other tribal dances due to its tempo and style. Audience are really encouraging us. Four types of musical instruments are used for the performance. They are ‘Manporai’, ‘Dhavil’, ‘Kogal’ and ‘Elathalam’. Actually our main problem is that we are not getting trained artists who can play these instruments. It is hard to play the instrument ‘Kogal’. We approached KIRTHADS for conducting a training program for Kogal.

Are you getting any assistance form the authorities ?

We had approached several government departments for the last five to six years. Some of them are trying their level best to help us, but so far nothing has come through. We had proposed them to conduct workshops and training classes from the school level onwards. If it goes that way, at least some of us could take this as a profession.

Is there any written literature for the songs?

There is no written text for the songs. Most of the songs were spread from mouth to mouth. It is in Irula language which is a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam.

What is the duration of the performance?

The duration of our performance is maximum one hour. It is tough to play the instrument ‘Kogal’ continuously for more than one hour.

Is there any possibility to innovate this art form?

Yes. There are possibilities. We can add more drama dialogues in between the dance. By this the duration of the program could also be extended. But there is no written text for that. It also needs rigorous training which is not possible right now because of thefinancial burden.