All my childhood summer were spent in Imphal the capital of Manipur,with my maternal grandparents and uncle’s family. Where Namsai engulfed me and surprises me with its cultural diversity,Imphal exposed me to the rich culture and tradition of Manipur,of which I too am a part. Living in an area where every mouth speaks the language I first learned and tasting a classic Manipuri dish like “eromba” and “singju” for every meal reminds me of my roots.my summer vacations were not only spend in learning new games from my cousins but also in memorizing new Manipuri songs and poems, which I proudly performed to my friends and neighbors after returning to Namsai.My love for dancing took me a step further. and I keenly insisted to watch every single dance performance that took place in the city. 
Maibi dance of Manipur
Photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?
Maibi dance of Manipur
Photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?
Lai-Haraoba is an important festival of the natives of Manipur “meiteis” as they are known in the local language.This festival commences by offering clothes,food articles and grains to a sylvan deity who differs in each locality.This festival witnesses a number of dances like Khamba-Thoibi Dance, Maibi Dance and so on.The khamba-Thoibi is a duet dance performed by the women wearing “phanek” and a headdress called “kajenglei”.It is believed that the hero Khamba and his beautiful heroin Thoibi performed this dance before lord Thangjing for the peace and prosperity of the land.The modern form of this dance is a depiction on the dance originally performed by them.The Maibi dance is performed by “Maibis” who is the priestesses,wearing a serene white dress and “chura” a feathery headdress.She through her dance talks about the origin of mankind,it begins with the creation of the earth and then slowly moves on to showing the starting of civilization.I use to witness all this dances with out most excitement and hardly ever blinking my eyes.I would always leave the performance ground with a desire to learn to perform these dances and to be able to wear those beautiful costumes which highly attracted me as a child.
Khamba-Thoibi dance of manipur
Photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.museindia.com
Photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.museindia.com
Unfortunately ever I never learned to perform the classical Manipuri dances,and my childhoods desire still remains only unfulfilled. However there is one form of Manipuri dance that I can perform and which I thoroughly enjoy performing, this dance is the Thabal-chongba Dance.This is performed during the festival of Holi(“yaosang” in the local language),and requires no previous learned skills to perform this dance.this is a community dance where men-women,girls-boys and children hold hands to form a chain and skip according to the beats of the drum and flute.The Holi of 2011 is the first time that I missed the exciting and joyous experience of this dance,and it brings a nostalgic tear to my eye.
Thabal chongba dance of Manipur
photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?
Thabal chongba dance of Manipur
photo courtesy http://www.google.co.in/imgres?
Be it the performances seen on the stage at Guwahati or the open ground dance performances in Manipur,it all speaks of the beauty of art and cultural that has been preserved in the North-Eastern states of IIndia.The North East is not an underdeveloped region of the country,but a region that needs more recognition and appreciation.The dance forms of the different states not only move the heart of millions to its beat but also reveal a small fragment of this vast and rich of the North East.
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