Seminar on Manipuri Dance was organized for the college students of NavSadhana Kala Kendra on Nov.29, 2014 in the Milan Hall. A professional team: a group of three namely Debanjana Roy, ShamobantiChatterji and PriyankaTalukdar from Kolkata was invited by Dr.Fr.V.Sebastian, the Principal of NavSadhana Kala Kendra through the Regional Director, Mr.Anurag Singh, ICCR and assisted by Sir Jaideb Mukherjee.  The recital as follows:

THE FIRST PRESENTATION “VASANTA RAAS”:It is meant one of the traditional RaasLeelas of Manipur and yet another romantic portrayal of Radha-Krishna love, VasantaRaas is performed on a full – moon night during luscious spring. In this piece we see both the “Tandava” and “Lasya” styles of the Dance, Krishna’s dance being the forceful Tandava while Radha’s dance is portrayed by the flowy and graceful lasyastyle. The people of Manipur are mainly devotees of Lord Krishna; Through these Raasleelasthe god and goddesses are personified.

SECOND PESENTATION “NANICHURI”:This composition is based on the famous story of Lord Krishna trying to steal butter, which is hung from the ceiling. This dance is part of Rakhalraas and is composed by Late Guru Bipin Singh. In this dance Krishna is portrayed by forceful TANDAVA style of Manipuri dance.

THIRD PRESENTATION “MANDIRA NARTAN”: This is a festival dance performed during the JHULAN Festival. As the people of Manipur are mainly Vaishnav, most of their dance performances are dedicated to the Lord Krishna and Radha. This is performed during “purnima” by the large group of women. This colorful dance piece is composed on the graceful LasyaStyle of Manipuri dance.

FOURTH PRESENTATION “SHARANG NARTANG”:

In this dance the Gopies describe about Lord Krishna. The composition starts off with the slow and graceful Lasya style and in the end it is joined by the Tandava movements. The dance was composed by Late Guru Bipin. Thus the dance piece shows both the aspects of Manipuri dance with intricate footwork.

At end of the dance the time was given for the college students to interact with them to clear any doubts on the dance presented. Ms.Damini and Ms.Margrate asked questions about the costumes and mudras of the dance that differ from Bharatnatyam. Ms. Alphonsa, a student of M.A final year Bharatnatyam was Master of Ceremony of the day and she did her job well and the vote of thanks was given by Ms.Damini.

At the end of the dance Dr.Fr.V.Sebastian, the Principal of NavSadhana Kala Kendra honored the professional dancers who performed it.  Thereafter our college students learnt few Manipuri Dance from them at their request to the Principal. Thus it was a wonderful performance and the college students benefited from it. The students of NavSadhana Kala Kendra are indebted to the principal for organizing such wonderful stage performance.