"I have visited the Attappady tribal settlement a few times,” was the response of one of the judges for Irula Nritham in the recently concluded Kozhikode sub-district youth festival in Kerala, when questioned about his qualification to judge the tribal dance form. The belittling response was given to Anuprashobhini, from the Irula tribal community in Kerala’s Attappady, who made an impassioned speech against the inaccurate criteria used in judging the dance. A video of her speech went viral on social media, garnering public attention. 

“There is no insistence on expertise when judges are chosen for tribal art forms. But that is not the case with Mohiniyattam or Kathakali [classical dance forms associated with dominant castes]. Will a tribal person ever be allowed to judge these art forms?” an emotional Anuprasobhini asked. 

Speaking to TNM over phone on a later date, she elaborated on what prompted her to take the microphone. "Initially, I politely asked the judges how they could evaluate an art form without any basic knowledge of it. That was when one of them took a jibe at me in response, saying that he had visited Attappady several times, in an attempt to belittle our place and the art form. This provoked me. So when the organising committee suggested that I should not make an issue out of it, I took the microphone and posed a few questions to the judges,” she said.

Irula Nritham, a traditional art form of the Irula community, was recently included as a competition item in the state youth festival, along with four other tribal dance forms. Anuprasobhini attended the youth festival with students from the Government Higher Secondary School (GVHSS) Narikkuni, who she had trained in Irula Nritham. The team secured second place, but she noticed that the winning team had made several mistakes in their use of instruments and dance movements. Curious about the judgement criteria, Anuprasobhini discovered that the judging panel consisted not of experts in Irula Nritham, but folk song artists.

“My students had secured first place in the higher secondary category, and I was not worried that we came second at the youth festival. The problem was the lackadaisical attitude of the organisers,” Anuprasobhini explained. 

She had first enquired if the judges were familiar with the Irula community and whether they could give an explanation for their judgement. However, they did not respond. “While I was asking questions, one judge opened YouTube and checked Irula Nritham. That provoked me further. When I asked about the criteria they followed to adjudge the other team as the best, they replied ‘energy.’ Look at how trivially they judge the art form,” Anuprasobhini said. 

According to the Kerala Education Department’s guidelines, tribal arts must be judged on the basis of costumes, rhythm, use of traditional musical instruments, dance steps, and authentic dance presentation. The guidelines also specify the qualifications for judges who evaluate these art forms– ‘the judge for the tribal art form should be someone with knowledge of the specific art form, proven skill in performing it and an understanding of tribal communities and their arts.’

Anuprasobhini alleged that the youth festival organisation committee is too lazy to find judges and that is the issue. “The committee members told me they could not find better qualified judges, but that is not true. Anyone from our community can judge this performance,” she added.

“I only expressed my concern regarding Irula Nritham, but two other tribal art forms – Paniya Nritham and Malappulayattam– were also performed there and the same judges judged those performances too,” Anuprasobhini said. 

“I believe my response will make an impact. I spoke out because I don’t want this situation to continue,” she added.

‘Qualified judges absent in most panels’

It was in 2024 that the Kerala government decided to include tribal dance forms in youth festivals. State education minister V Sivankutty made the announcement earlier in January, after watching a tribal dance called Mangalam Kali at the state school youth festival. He said that tribal dances would be included in the youth festival competitions from the next academic year onwards, a decision that addressed a long-standing request from tribal communities to include their indigenous art forms in mainstream competition events to help preserve and practise them. 

“Currently, our younger generation does not learn this dance form, which means it may eventually disappear from our community and society. So, we thought it would be beneficial to include it in the school youth festival, so that the new generation can learn and perform it every year,” Pazhani Swami, a Paniya Nritham artist, told TNM. He has a group called the Gothra Kalakshetra, and they have been performing this art form for over two decades.

The Kerala Institute for Research, Training, & Development Studies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled (KIRTADS) proposed the inclusion of tribal arts in the youth festival to the Kerala Government in 2015. On September 30, 2024, the government issued a circular announcing that the state school arts festival would incorporate five tribal dance forms– Mangalam Kali, a traditional dance form of the Mavilan and Malavettuvan communities in Kasaragod and Kannur districts, Paniya  Nritham, a traditional dance form of the Paniya community in Wayanad district, Malapulaya Aattam, a traditional art form of the Malapulaya community in Idukki district, Irula Nritham, a traditional art form of the Irula community from Attappady in the Palakkad district, and Paliya Nritham, a traditional art form of the Paliya community in the Idukki district. These forms can now be performed in both the high school and higher secondary school state youth festivals. There is no separate category for girls, and both genders can perform together. 

Though this has been a welcome change, according to Pazhani Swami, qualified judges are absent in most panels. 

“After Anuprasobhini’s video went viral, I received numerous messages and videos of students performing the dance at many avenues. Unfortunately, most of the performances are not authentic. Some of them even perform it like cinematic dance. The lack of informed judgement leads to misrepresented performances being given the opportunity to perform at the district youth festival, following their participation and win at the sub-district level,” Pazhani Swami said.

During the initial discussion on the proposal requesting tribal arts to be included in the youth festivals, artists insisted that for a minimum of 10 years, the art should be taught and judged by the performers from the community. “After 10 years, other individuals, who develop an understanding about tribal arts can also teach and judge. But if this pattern of judgement continues, it will severely harm the authenticity of the art,” Pazhani Swami told TNM, voicing his concern about the potential loss of integrity of tribal arts.

Anuprasobhini’’s intervention has made some impact, Pazhani Swami. “A KIRTADS official told me that after Anu’s incident, people have been inquiring about the judges,” he said.