New Delhi, March 29: In coincidence with the festival of Manipuri new year- Sajibu Cheiraoba, the three-day 11th National Festival of New Choreographies also took off last evening with the exhilarating Manipuri dance performance entitled- Yeningtha: The Colours of Spring at the Stein Auditorium, Indian Habitat Centre, Lodi Road here.
Conceived and designed by Padmashri Ojha Thingbaijam Babu and Priti Patel, the 45- minute production was based on the traditional Raas Leela of Manipur performed on the full moon night of Basanta spring season.
The artistes of Anjika Centre for Manipuri Dance and Movement Therapy, Kolkata with their graceful movement on the rhythmic beats of Meitei Pung played by Ratan Singh and heart-throb powerful vocal of Wangkheirakpam Suraj Kumar- the Sutradhari delighted the audience throughout the performance.
It symbolized an auspicious and colorful beginning to the New year with beautiful dances of Krishna and Radha.
The unique feature of the production was the rendering of songs by the dancers themselves, thereby keeping the original tradition of the Raas Leela.
Sanjenbam Karuna Devi from Lamsang was in the role of Krishna and Abhi Amita Sharma from Thangmeiband as Radha.
Gopis were Kanan Devi, Sandhyarani Devi, Dayapati Devi, Priyarani Devi and Geetarani Devi.
Wearing black coloured velvet blouse dotted with golden coloured Kinar by all the dancers had a beautiful look and new meaning.
Wrapping both Krishna and Radha by a transparent refined silk cloth at the end of Raas Leela before the Arti took place, brought the audience's mind towards the real picture of the deities of Krishna and Radha adorned in the Shri Shri Govindajee Temple of the Manipur Palace in Imphal.
The production began with Pung Cholom performed by Ratan Singh and Brojen Singh with Moibung by Surchandra Singh.
Composition of Pung Cholom was of all selective pieces which could attract the audiences.
Priti Patel who worked in Manipuri dance is another Ratan Thiyam of Manipuri theatre who is very conscious of visual aesthetics.
Both were well-experienced communicators to the audience of their products.
The two Pung players threw their Kokyet (turban) from their heads to the audience.
Union Secretary of Culture Jawhar Sircar who occupied the front seat of the show wasvery kind enough for the artistes.
He picked up one of the Kokyets falling in front of him and kept it on the edge of the down stage.
The Choreographer and the Director of Anjika, Priti Patel said, "My production is based on the beautiful Manipuri Raas tradition.
The choreography is Ojha Babu Singh's and mine, based on Guru Amubi Singh's tradition.
My work has featured often at this festival.
But each time it is a challenge to churn out something new.
The whole idea is not to just put things together.
Fusion is difficult and challenging.
At the same time I don't want to forget the work within the format.
This time I have not used any martial arts at all.
Here the composition has been made very dynamic for the stage, whereas when you do it in a temple it's another thing.
That itself is something new".
Priti Patel's "Liklu-Lithang" participated in the last edition of the National festival was the most thoughtfully designed work of the festival.
Blending a traditional storytelling technique of Manipur with dance was an exception.
Even she used professionals from other forms to fulfill her creation.
Impresario India , Habitat World and India Habitat Centre jointly organized the National Festival of New Choreographies.
Union Secretary of Culture Jawhar Sircar lighted the inaugural lamp.
The platform for the National Festival was created in the year 1999 in the national capital for showcasing the new creative expressions of Indian classical dance choreography.
Raga Chitra choreographed in Kathak by Monisa Nayak, Divya Namaskar in Odissi by Kiran desai, Bighna Vinayaka in Bharatnatyam by Kush Kushari, Prayogam in Kuchipudi by Jaikishore Mosalikanti and Kala Shruti in Bharanatyam by Jayalakshmi Eshwar were the new creative outputs of the current festival.
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