Tiger Dance

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Mangalore, April 3,2013:

By C D Souza

 ‘Pili Vesha’ – boundless entertainment

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One of the highlights of the just concluded Mangaladevi temple annual celebrations has been the tiger dance known as ‘pili vesha’ in colloquial Tulu language or Huli Vesha in Kannada.  Since tiger is the deity of Mangaladevi temple, ‘pili vesha’ assumes greater importance during the annual celebrations here.   During the just concluded five day annual celebrations Jeppu Friends Tiger’s Camp performed at the temple premises enthralling devotees who flocked to the temple.  

Pili vesha is unique to undivided Dakshina Kannada district and people just love to see dancers costumed or painted with tiger or cheetah motifs dancing to the tunes of the band with two or three drummers. Pili vesha has become an indissoluble part of our tradition and culture and is unique to this coastal region.

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enaradaDevaraj of Tiger camp known to his friends and acquaintances as Rajanna, says his troupe comprising about 60 members that include about 40 tiger dancers,  gives performances twice a year – i.e during the Dasara festival and during the Mangaladevi annual celebrations.  He says that his troupe has been performing in Mangaladevi annually for the last 15 years.  Tiger camp members also give performances in difference parts of the country like in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and other cities. Tiger’s camp comprises members of all age groups, children to adults of varied age groups.  The troupe is now gearing itself to perform for recording for CNN-IBN – the national channel, which will be coming to the city for exclusive recording of the tiger dance this month end. 

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Rajanna says most members of his troupe are engaged in different professions for a career and consider this art as a passion, a passion that keeps them on their toes literally.  Rajanna says there have been efforts to   attract youngsters to this art form so as to keep the tradition alive.  Various dance schools that have mushroomed in the city have been teaching young aspirants challenging dance steps, and most of these steps are nothing but stungs.   Since tiger dance invariably involves stunts, the youngsters are able to get the required training required for tiger dance.  During holidays special camps are held for children interested in pursuing pili vesha and Rajanna says it is really heartening to see more and more youngsters showing keen interest in  learning tiger dance.

Rajanna, who is 45 has been performing tiger dance since the age of nine and says dancers will be able to move to the beat of the drums till the age of 60. 

2 COMMENTS

  1. We need tiger dance performance for ganesha festival. Could you please anyone contact me else provide me the contact number????

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