Tagore’s creations in Chakma

Marking the 159th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, several Chakma artistes paid their tribute to him, translating one of his songs into the Chakma language, along with recording and dancing to it. This is the first Tagore creation to be translated into Chakma. Renowned singer and teacher Manoj Bahadur Gurkha translated the Rabindra Sangeet, 'Tumi Kemon Kore Gaan Koro Hey Guni' into Chakma. Mrittika Chakma helped him translate the Chakma version of the song 'Tui Hejan Gori Geet Gach O Guni'. Singer Anamika Dey recorded it while promising dancer-choreographer Fifa Chakma danced to the number.

 "Tonusree Gurkha, daughter of Manoj Bahadur Gurkha, gave me the Chakma song to choreograph a dance piece. We performed together on the song for the first time on Tagore's birth anniversary this year," said Fifa. "The live performance was arranged on behalf of Manoj Bahadur Gurkha's music school, Surniketan. The video received over 10 thousand views on Facebook. UNESCO Dhaka also shared it from their page. I uploaded the dance piece on my YouTube channel on May 13.  Given the success of the performance, we have planned to produce a Tagore dance drama in Chakma. We have already started working on the first ever Tagore dance drama in our mother language."

Hailing from Rangamati, Fifa's dreams revolve around the world of dance. She is a specialised researcher in Bangladeshi Tribal folk dances, and a distinguished academic in the realm of Kathak. With an ICCR scholarship, the dancer completed her B.A. (Honours) and M.A. in Kathak Dance from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India.

She started learning dance at the age of four. She took lessons on folk and creative dance under the tutelage of Guru Sanchana Chakma and Guru Humayun Kabir in Rangamati. Later, she was trained at Nrityanchal and took personal lessons on Kathak from Shibli Mohammad. She was also trained under the tutelage of Guru Smt Nandini Chakraborty in Kolkata.

As the only classically trained dancer among the indigenous communities of Bangladesh, she dreams of depicting the different essences of dance through her performances.

Fifa participated as a dance director in London on behalf of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to celebrate the Independence Day of Bangladesh in 2019. She also took part as a dance director in Philippine on behalf of the same ministry at Philippine International Indigenous Peoples Festival 2018. As part of the cultural exchange programme between Bangladesh and Bhutan, Fifa participated as a dance artist in Bhutan twice, in 2017 and 2018. She represented the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Bangladesh, as a dance ambassador in India during the cultural exchange programme between the two countries.

Aside from being a fantastic performer, choreographer and dance director, Fifa is currently working as a dance instructor at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. She is also a guest lecturer at the Department of Dance, University of Dhaka. In her fêted career, she also worked as a dance instructor at Khudra Nri-gosthi Cultural Institute, Khagrachhari and Jum Aesthetics Council, Rangamati. The dedicated artiste is also the founder and director of Tapassya Dance Academy, which is based in both Dhaka and Rangamati.

For her scintillating performances, Fifa bagged many awards and scholarships. She was granted a scholarship from All India Children Music Conference as a young dance artiste in 2014, as she was simultaneously placed first in Folk, Rabindra Dance and Kathak at the conference. She also positioned first at the pre-summit dance competition held at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, as part of the National Education Summit 2014.