Manipuri dance

The Manipuri dance is one of the Indian classical dance forms. It originated in the early 15th century in Manipur, a state in northeastern India on the border with Myanmar.

The Dance

Since Manipur is surrounded by mountains and geographically isolated area, the dance form was able to develop their own specific aesthetics, expression, conventions and ethics. The traditional Manipuri dance style includes delicate, lyrical and graceful movements. The goal is rounded movements and avoiding movements that are jerky or form sharp edges or straight lines. Exactly this is the Manipuri dance appear as wavy and smooth. The movements of the body and feet and facial expressions are the Manipuri Dance subtle and strive for devotion and grace.

The foot movements are made visible as part of a whole-body movement. Manipuri dancers do not wear ankle bells to accentuate the beats that they perform with their feet - unlike other classical Indian dances. The feet never come hard on the ground. The feet are first placed with the toe on the ground - even with energetic steps. The ankle and knee catch it from the vibrations. The feet of the dancers are not exactly raised or placed in rhythmic accents in the same moment, but rather shortly before or after to express these rhythmic accents as effectively as possible.

Musical accompaniment

The dancers are Pung ( drum), Pena ( one-stringed fiddle), Khartal ( cymbal ), Bansi (bamboo flute), a harmonium and singer with musical accompaniment. At the dance style Pung cholom doubt celled double cone drums ( Pung ) and cholom the style Khartal cymbals are integrated into the performances ( Khartal ). The drummers are always male. Once they master the instrument, learn how to dance it.

Lyrics

The lyrics in the Manipuri dance are often the classic poetry borrowed - from Jayadeva, Vidyapati, Chandidas, Govindadas or Gyandas and can in Sanskrit, Maithili be, Braj - Bhakha or other languages ​​.

Manipuri dance and Hinduism

The Manipuri dance is purely religious. His goal is a spiritual experience. An important issue is the worship of Krishna and his consort Radha and beloved ( Hindu forms of the Divine ) - especially when Ras lila.

Dance here is not only the medium of worship and enjoyment as well as a gateway to the divine but also an indispensable part of all socio-cultural ceremonies. From a religious and artistic perspective, the classical form of Manipuri dance is considered both as one of the simplest, most modest, softest and most gentle as well as most meaningful dances of the world.

Dances in Manipur culture

The Manipur culture maintains to this day very old, based on rituals dances and folk dances as well as the instructions, developed later classical Manipuri dance style. Among the classical categories to meet Ras Lila - a highly developed dance-drama of the Vaishnava Padavali, which goes back to Bengali poets and gurus from Manipur. It is considered the highest expression of artistic genius, devotion and goodness of Manipur culture.

History

Early period

The development of music and dance was with the people of Manipur through religious festivals and daily activities. According to legend, the natives of Manipur valley dance luminaries were. This is mentioned by Gandharva in the Indian national as Ramayana and Mahabharata.

The inscription on a copper plate writes King Khuoyi Tompok the introduction of drums and cymbals in the Manipuri dance (c. 2nd century AD). However, it is unlikely that the former style of today's form corresponds, as Krishna Bhakti was introduced to the dance until the 15th century AD.

Maharaja Ching- Thang Khomba (1748-1799 AD) laid the dance style that and created three of the five variants of the Ras lilas: Maha Ras, Basanta Ras and the Kunja Ras, which in during his reign in Sri - Sri - Govindaji Temple Imphal were listed. He is also the creator of Achouba - Bhangi - Pareng dance and an elaborate costume ( Kumil ) and the author of an important text ( Govindasangeet Purple Vilasa ), which describes in detail the basics of dance.

Maharaja Gambhir Singh (1788-1834 AD), created two Parengs from Tandava - type: Goshtha Bhangi Pareng and Goshtha Vrindaban Pareng. Maharaja Chandra Kirti Singh, who reigned from 1849 to 1886 AD, was a talented drummer and composed at least 64 Pung choloms ( drum dances ) and two Parengs of Lasya - type: Vrindaban Bhangi Pareng and Khrumba Bhangi Pareng. The creation of the Nitya Ras is attributed to him as well.

20th century

The Manipuri dance was made outside the region of Manipur known by the Nobel Prize for Literature, Rabindranath Tagore. In 1919 he saw the dance composition Goshtha Lila in Sylhet (now Bangladesh). This impressed him so much that he invited Guru Singh Budhimantra as lecturers after Shantiniketan, Visva Bharati University to his. In 1926, Guru Naba Kumar part of the faculty to teach Ras lila. Other acclaimed gurus like Senarik Singh Rajkumar, Nileshwar Mukherji and Atomba Singh were also invited to teach here and helped Tagore in some choreographies his dance dramas.

Guru Naba Kumar went to Ahmedabad in 1928 to teach Manipuri dance there. Soon after, Guru Bipin Singh made ​​known to dance in Mumbai. Among his pupils were the most famous, the Jhaveri sisters Nayana, Suverna, Darshana and Ranjana.