LAHORE:The Punjab Council of Arts (PCA) is reviving its cultural troupe established in 1975, which later fizzled out for lack of patronage and funding, to represent the indigenous culture, dance and music of different regions of the province, officials told Dawn.

Officials say that the newly appointed PCA Executive Director Athar Masood is striving hard to revive the cultural troupe, once an integral feature of the council.

They say that presently, there is no official dance ensemble in the province that could representdifferent local and regional dances.

Official sources say that a 60-member troupe, comprising musicians and dancers, has been finalised for this purpose.The PCA had a 16-member cultural troupe that was largely inactive and “rusting” without performances or funding for instruments and costumes since April 2003. More recently, in 2024, the council planned to revive the folk dance troupe to showcase Punjab’s cultural heritage.

The first such troupe was constituted at the time of the creation of the provincial arts council in 1975, comprising 24 members, including six women.

The troupe performed in various countries in the Middle East, China and Egypt, portraying Pakistani culture. Inter-provincial functions offered opportunities to the performers to show their talent and represent Punjab.

According to some members, the troupe suffered a major blow during the Zia regime when it was disbanded. Nevertheless, it continued to operate on the condition that it would shed all the female performers.

Subsequently, some of the female performers, including Mehwish, Nazia Hafeez and Roshan Ara, left the troupe to join television or film. After 1980, the troupe did not participate in any event abroad. Officials say the instruments of these artistes were rusting without any performance abroad.

“The artistes rehearsed every day, but there were no funds even for repairs of the instruments.New costumesand music instruments would be purchased, along with other items, for the dancers and musicians in the troupe.” an official says.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2025