Appreciating Manipuri Dance

After over four decades of living in Delhi, I am still surprised at how little many people understand and appreciate Manipuri. Recognised as classical since Independence, along with only three of the current pantheon of eight Indian classical dance forms, the depth of Manipuri is hardly known.

The unique costume worn by Radha and the gopis in the various Rasalilas is iconic. The floating potloi skirt representing clouds and stars in the sky was envisioned by a king as was the distinctive appearance of Kathakali artists. Viewers who do not make the effort to see beyond the costumes of these great dance forms miss (virtually) everything.

We all respond to and enjoy rhythm, especially variations and complexities of laya and tala. This becomes particularly accessible when the dancer speaks the bols to be danced as in Kathak. In several Indian classical dance traditions either the percussionist or a nattuvangar speaks thee mnemonics of the tala variations danced. The ghungroos worn on the dancers’ ankles in many dance genres also help the audience appreciate the rhythm as it is expressed through foot contact.

The beauty and challenges of understanding Manipuri rhythmic variations lies both in the complexity and subtlety of the over 64 talas played on the pung, the primary percussion instrument of Manipuri. In the understated cultural expression of Manipur, speaking the bols played could be considered as underestimating the audience’s understanding as well as a distraction from the emotional impact of the bhakti of the dance. Beyond this, ghungroos are not worn as rhythmic accents can be taken by other body parts than the feet. Rhythms are frequently syncopated, with the beats taken with a bend in the knee, a shift of the torso or in the air with a jump rather than a foot contact.

The wonderful Jhaveri sisters of Mumbai dedicated their lives to popularizing and promoting Manipuri dance. They added ghungroos to their performances as this was familiar to audiences as a way to connect to the danced rhythms. Manipuri purists objected as wearing ankle bells actually diminished the rhythmic sophistication of the dance in the attempt to add accessibility to the general viewer. Even if depth of knowledge of Manipuri talas is missing, at least we could make the effort to try to see the subtle variations in the dance movement without requiring the aural crutches of bol or ghungroo.

Manipuri, like classical Western and contemporary dance and Chhau uses the entire body as an expressive unit without emphasis on facial expression or hasta abhinaya. This fundamental fact escapes those who assume that dramatic expression in Indian classical dance always requires highlighting the hands and face. This was brought home to me whenever I performed Manipuri on Doordarshan in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. “Experienced” cameramen and directors would stick to close up and mid-shots apparently waiting for facial expressions cutting off even hands in the frame!

While everyone would agree that Manipuri is lyrical and graceful, the elegance and sophistication of the dance goes way beyond the stereotype of doll-like figures waving their hands while bobbing gracefully.

While other dances transition from sculptural pose to pose, Manipuri is all about transitions between curves, circles and figure eights of the hands and the entire body. I recall from my classical ballet training that it is essential that the dancer appear to move effortlessly with the audience unaware of the endless hours of training and perspiration to achieve this. Manipuri dances succeed in this appearance of effortless grace, yet reaching mastery is in many ways more difficult than learning other dance genres.

Both as a student and as a teacher, it is easier to correct a pose in Odissi than to navigate the very subtle coordination of micro transitions of body, head, torso and hands in Manipuri. Again, the Jhaveri sisters showed the use of hand mudras from Abhinaya Darpana and the Natya Shastra inherent in Manipuri to aid pan-Indian audiences understanding, yet the basic hand movements used in the first chali basic step are more refined than can be understood by breaking it down to the alapadma, pataka, suchi, hamsasya contained in a fluid movement that doesn’t stop at these “points”. Elbows, wrists and timing transform these hand positions to another level of aesthetic beauty.

The full impact of experiencing a Manipuri Rasalila, one the highlights of Indian culture, is certainly greater in the traditional circular dance areas outside temples and homes in Manipuri itself, yet this is true of Kathakali and Kuchipudi in their traditional settings, yet seen on the proscenium stage it still has tremendous power to communicate the bliss of Chaitanite Vaishnavism. The involved, intimate bhakti does not lend itself to the virtuosity and dynamics of the solo classical dance traditions. The extroverted connection with the audience of other genres means the audience needs to allow itself to be drawn into the sophisticated multifaceted dimensions of Manipuri to savor its richness. A little effort to be receptive to a less familiar aesthetic will be rewarded with entre to a magnificent dance form; one of India’s greatest treasures.

Sharon Lowen is a respected exponent of Odissi, Manipuri and Mayurbhanj and Seraikella Chau whose four-decade career in India was preceded by 17 years of modern dance and ballet in the US and an MA in dance from the University of Michigan. She can be contacted at sharonlowen.workshop@gmail.com