Available Online at http://www.recentscientific.com International Journal of CODEN: IJRSFP (USA) Recent Scientific International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Research Vol. 12, Issue, 02 (E), pp. 41069-41072, February, 2021 ISSN: 0976-3031 DOI: 10.24327/IJRSR Research Article PERFORMING ARTS AS A DOMAIN OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE WITH SPECIAL REFRENCE TO INDIAN FOLK THEATRE Mohammad Irfan, Farin Khan* and Himanshi Sharma Department of Museology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002, Uttar Pradesh, India DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijrsr.2021.1202.5823 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article History: Performing Arts have been a very important and integral part of Indian Tradition and Culture. In the past times these performances used to be performed in each and every part of India in their regional Received 06th November, 2020 th ethics and customs. But with the change in time we see change in our customs and traditions. We are Received in revised form 14 swiftly moving towards western culture as a result of which these integral parts of Indian tradition December, 2020 are also changing and vanishing up to an extent. Performing Arts have a very wide range and India Accepted 23rd January, 2021 th has been a hub of many such activities, these activities include dance performances, folk music sung Published online 28 February, 2021 in festivals, marriages, funerals and other important ceremonies as well. This shows that whatever the occasion be, different art forms have been an integral part of our Indian Traditional Culture. But Key Words: with the change in time, a constant decrement has been seen in these community performances. Traditions, Pantomime, versification, India has many different types of Performing Arts. One of the very important among these is ‘Indian stemming, indigenous. Folk Theatre Performances’. Indian Folk Theatre is a synthesized art form with an amalgamation of elements from music, dance, dialogues, pantomime, versification, religion and festival peasantry. The folk Theatre is stemming from Native culture and their social values. They not only provide mass entertainment, but also help Indian society as Indigenous tools for inter village communication for ages as well as transmission of culture and developing better understanding. In India, Folk Theatre has been used to spread Social, Political and Cultural issues in the form of theatrical messages to create awareness among people. It breaks all the formal barriers and reaches directly to the people. Different forms of Folk Theatre are very important in India as it is a traditional way of communication to convey messages for Economic, Social and Cultural development which in result helps in the overall development of Nation. Copyright © Mohammad Irfan et al, 2021, this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. INTRODUCTION What is Theatre? The performing arts range from vocal and instrumental music, Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live dance and theatre to pantomime, sung verse and beyond. They performers to present the experience of a real or imagined include numerous cultural expressions that reflect human event before a live audience in a specific place. History of creativity and that are also found, to some extent, in many other theatre charts the development of theatre over the past 2,500 intangible cultural heritage domains. Music is perhaps the most years. While per formative elements are present in every universal of the performing arts and is found in every society, society, it is customary to acknowledge a distinction between most often as an integral part of other performing art forms and theatre as an art form and entertainment and theatrical or per other domains of intangible cultural heritage including rituals, formative elements in other activities. Greek theatre, most festive events or oral traditions. It can be found in the most developed in Athens, is the root of the Western tradition; diverse contexts: sacred or profane, classical or popular, closely theatre is in origin a Greek word. It was part of a broader connected to work or entertainment. There may also be a culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that political or economic dimension to music: it can recount a included festivals, religious rituals, politics, law, athletics and community’s history, sing the praises of a powerful person and gymnastics, music, poetry, weddings, funerals, and symposia. play a key role in economic transactions. The occasions on The theatre of ancient Rome was a thriving and diverse art which music is performed are just as varied: marriages, form, ranging from festival performances of street theatre, nude funerals, rituals and initiations, festivities, all kinds of dancing, and acrobatics, to the staging of Plautus's broadly entertainment as well as many other social functions. appealing situation comedies, to the high-style, verbally *Corresponding author: Farin Khan Department of Museology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002, Uttar Pradesh, India Susmita Pramanik et al., Performing Arts As A Domain of Intangible Cultural Heritage With Special Refrence To Indian Folk Theatre elaborate tragedies of Seneca. These are four types: Indian In a proscenium theatre, the stage is located at one end of the theatre, Sanskrit theatre, Kathakali, Modern Indian theatre. auditorium and is physically separated from the audience space by a proscenium wall. Thrust and open stage: Some larger Types of Theatre drama theatres take the form of a thrust stage, with the Puppet theatre also flourished at many places in India-Shadow audience surrounding three sides of the performance platform. (Gombeyatta of Karnataka, Ravana Chhaya of Orissa), Glove Elements of Theatre (Gopalila of Orissa, Pavai Koothu of Tamil Nadu), Doll (Bommalattam of Tamil Nadu and the Mysore State and Putul Performers: People on stage presenting characters in dramatic Naach of Bengal) and String puppets (Kathputli of Rajasthan action. Audience: The essence of theatre is the interaction and Sakhi Kundhei of Orissa) are some of the popular forms in between the performer and audience, Theatre needs to be vogue. Dramatic art can also be found in some of the solo experienced live. Director: The director makes certain that the forms of Indian classical dance, like Bharat Natyam, Katthak, performers understand the text and deliver the script excitingly Odissi and Mohiniattam, and folk dances like the Gambhira and appropriately. Theatre Space: Another necessary element and Purulia Chhau of Bengal, Seraikella Chhau of Bihar and of theatre is the space in which performers or audiences come Mayurbhanj Chhau of Orissa. Dramatic content is even woven together. Text: A final element essential to theatre is the text into the ritual ceremonies in some areas, particularly those of that is performed, and it must be present for theatre to occur. Kerala, with its Mudiyettu and Teyyam. Famous Traditional Theatre of India Forms of Theatre Koodiyattam is one of the oldest traditional theatre forms of Arena: A theatre in which the audience completely surrounds Kerala and is based on Sanskrit theatre traditions. The the stage or playing area. Actor’s entrances to the playing area characters of this theatre form are: Chakyaar or are provided through dormitories or gaps in the seating actor, Naambiyaar, the instrumentalists and Naangyaar, those arrangement. Thrust: A theatre in which the stage is extended taking on women’s roles. It was UNESCO as a Masterpiece of so that the audience surrounds it on three sides. The thrust stage the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Yakshagana is may be backed by an enclosed proscenium stage, providing a the traditional theatre form of Karnataka. It is based on place for background scenery, but audience views into the mythological stories and Puranas. The most popular episodes proscenium opening are usually limited. Actor entrances are are from the Mahabharata i.e. Draupadi swayamvar, Subhadra usually provided to the front of the thrust through vomitories or vivah, Abhimanyu vadh, Karna-Arjun yuddh and from gaps in the seating. End stage: A theatre in which the audience Ramayana i.e. Raajyaabhishek, Lav-kush Yuddh, Baali- seating and stage occupy the same architectural space, with the Sugreeva yuddha and Panchavati. Theukoothu, literally stage at one end and the audience seated in front facing the meaning street play, is the most popular form of folk drama of stage. Flexible theatres: Flexible theatre is a generic term for a Tamil Nadu. Burrakatha is a form of folk theatre commonly theatre in which the playing space and audience seating can be seen in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh. In 2010 Mudiyettu configured as desired for each production. Often, the theatre was inscribed in the UNESCO’s representative List of the can be configured into the arena, thrust, and end stage forms Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, becoming the second described above. Environmental, promenade, black box, and art form from Kerala after Koodiyattam. Nautanki is a form of studio theatre are other terms for this type of space, suggesting folk theatre that is performed in North India. Nautanki can still particular features or qualities. Environmental theatre: A found be seen in some villages of India. Social messages like the space in which the architecture of the space is intrinsic to the prevention of AIDS, family planning and women’s performance, or a theatre space that is transformed into a empowerment are often embedded in Nautanki. Nautanki plays complete environment for the performance. Promenade theatre: are a form of moral instruction and entertainment. Bhavai is a A theatre without fixed seating in the main part of the form of folk theatre that is popular in Gujarat. Bhavai plays auditorium – this allows the standing audience to intermingle feature all levels of society; starting from the very bottom of with the performance and to follow the focal point of the action the caste to the very top of the caste system.