Kila Raipur Games: Dance performance by horses and camel leave spectators enthralled

Someone has rightly said, “Dance is a hidden language of the soul.” Interestingly, to prove this right; two 6-year-old horses, Toofan and Leeli Morni, and a 12-year-old camel named Raju, came all the way from Bathinda to give live dance performance on the beats of traditional Punjabi dhol on Sunday — the concluding day of 81st Kila Raipur Games.

Arrived along with their owner Harwinder Singh, 60, from Sereiwala village of Bathinda district, they have featured in songs of Akshay Kumar’s Singh is Bling and Dharmindera’s Double Di Trouble, that were released recently.

That is why, they were also considered as celebrity performers here. Their introduction turned out to be “quite captivating.” “We now have a special performance by three film stars, who worked with Akshay Kumar and Dharmendra, and might leave even the top most actors of Bollywood behind with their scintillating performance,” announced the anchor and the three began to dance to the beats of dhol, one after the other; and the clapping went on throughout the performance.

“I have been training camels and horses to dance since the past 25 years and it is one of my passions. It takes me around six months to train one animal,” shared Harwinder, who has been awarded special awards for this art by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal at Maghi Mela of Muktsar.

“While horses are quick learners, camels, at times, take time to learn. They only understand the language of love; else they will never learn the art. Moreover, like us humans, they too love music, especially, the beats of dhol. Sometimes, they dance even on their own if someone is playing the instrument nearby,” he added.

He also carried with him an album that carried all his awards’ pictures, followed by pictures of his star horses and camel with Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Dharmendra, from during the shoot last year in Punjab.

“Since, I keep taking the horses and the camel to all fairs across the state, one day I got a call from someone who wanted me to make them dance in the songs of two movies. It was a special experience for me and a dream-come-true moment. Both, Akshay and Dharmendra, immensely appreciated me for this art,” added Singh.

His assistant, Beant Singh, 50, who handled the camel, said that in Bathinda and Muktsar region, the performance is always in demand at weddings. They are taken to the weddings by the groom’s side.

“The groom’s side takes animals along, especially for a performance, as is the age-old tradition at the weddings. With advancing times, in some parts of Punjab, it has lost its sheen; but in Muktsar and Bathinda, the tradition holds high value,” said Beant.

He further added that for fitness of these performers, they are given a dose of homemade ghee mixed with grams daily.

Harpreet Singh, an NRI spectator who came from Chicago to see the games, said, “Such performances are certainly rare to catch. I had never imagined that horses or camels can be made to dance. These creative performances add value to such fairs and I enjoyed taking pictures and making videos.”

“After returning to Chicago, I will show them to my colleagues at work,” he added.