The perfect footwork and the immaculate face expressions, all this made the Manipuri Dance performance a hit in the city. A dance drama ‘Ima Manipur (Mother Manipur)’, ‘Dasa Avtar’, and ‘Ye Sakhi’ were performed here on Wednesday leaving the audience mesmerised at Utkal Bhavan. Notably, it was the grand closure of a fifteen-day workshop, based on Manipuri dance.
The workshop was organised by Kriti Ballet and Performing Arts under the guidance of well-known choreographer of Manipuri dance, Thounaojam lata Devi. Devi is one of the first among the Manipuri female choreographers having received formal training in Choreography. The programme began with the dance drama ‘Ye-Sakhi’ presented elegantly by Devi who was clad in Manpuri attire.
The verse of this dance drama begins with poem ‘Ye Sakhi Mohna’ which illustrates the charisma of lord Krishna. It was composed by late Guru padmashree Thiyam Tarun Kumar Singh and written by poet Rai Basanta. After this wonderful performance, another dance drama ‘Ima Manipur’ was presented by group. It is based two dance from of lai-Haraba including Maibi laiching Jagoi and Thougal Jagoi and one tribal dance form ‘Mao Naga.
Maibis or Priestesses are the star performers who conduct a ritual to propitiate by sylvan deities known as Umang lai. It is festival dance in which various process of creation and preservation of the world is described. This is an artistic expression of the levelling of the earth and the heaven by the gods and goddess at the time of creation. Moreover, Thougal Jagoi dance is used to perform by young bys and girls in order to please gods and goddess.
It depicts the creation of the earth and human beings and is generally performed in front of the diety during of the festival of lai Haraboa. Mao Naga dance is performed by Mao tribes during the Chithuni festival. They have a rich tradition of dance and music which are well known for their exquisite costumes.