Meitei Jagoi - Manipuri Dance Studio

Devjani Chaliha

The most memorable days of my life were the years I spent in Imphal, at my Guruji late Maishnam Amubi Singh’s residence as a member of his sprawling family. There I learnt the art of Manipuri Dance at the feet of my Guru and taught philosophy in Dhanamanjuri College.
I had not yet then developed any clear idea as to the purpose of my learning Manipuri dance. It was more of a hobby to me and I had no intention then to become a dancer as such.

But then circumstances or destiny made me take up dance with a dedicated seriousness that it became a whole time engagement, a life time involvement with me. My marriage in 1960 had me running about all over India and ultimately in 1967 we were more or less safely ensconced in Calcutta and shortly afterwards I started teaching in Uday Shankar India Culture Centre on Amaladi’s (Amala Shankar) request and was there for two years. Once again luck or destiny played its part. I came into contact with Sri Kulada
Kumar Bhattacharjee and it was he who brought into focus my dancing ability and moulded me into a “Stage presentable” artist. My career as a dancer took off since 1969 and regular performance and those were really very busy days. Performances were organised by Sri Kulada Kumar Bhattacharjee At that time some of my friends, specially Sunanda Datta (nee Purkayastha) requested me to teach their daughters the art which I had learnt and thus was born MEITEI JAGOI with only six girls, all my friends’ daughters. I wanted to imbibe to my students the experience I had while learning the dance from my Guruji. That was a sublime experience there was no pressure from anywhere and was truly Art for Art’s sake.

I did not learn at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy where my Guruji was the Principal and supervising Guru. I did not strive for Diploma or Degree.l learnt at Guruji’s own institute Guru Amubi Nritya Vidyalaya. Classes were held at the Mandap courtyard of his house and when I started teaching my students I wanted them to feel what I had felt, an experience which transcends the material world and is above all earthly needs, one sphere where they will have an abode of peace an atmosphere not vitiated by demands of a Degree, Diploma or a career. To impart to my students the true spirit and atmosphere of my relationship with Guruji would be a near impossibility in an urban centre specially Calcutta. We
decided that although “Meitei Jagoi” cannot posssibly be a Guru griha for my students, it will have an atmosphere of a home “a Griha” where the students will not be lost in an impersonal class room like environment.

An Experiment with Teaching

When we started Meitei Jagoi way back in 1971, the first thing we had to decide was the curriculum. Unlike academic education, there was no formal system in teaching dance at that time. In Manipur dance lessons start with Chali and then composition dance numbers are taught. A founder member Sri Kulada Kuma Bhattacharjee insisted that we have a system of teaching the basic movements and not emphasise on teaching dance numbers which come much later, after the basics are mastered. It took quite sometime for me to understand what he was saying. But soon I realised that even in Chali, the first lesson of Manipuri dance, the basic postures and movements, the alphabets are taken for granted. Thus my search for the basics started which resulted in a method of teaching which we named ‘Meite Jagoi method of teaching Manipuri Dance. There are 5 stages before we start Chaliha in this method:

Yogasana
Dance Exercises
Basic Steps
Phibam and Posture Exercises
Rhythm Exercises

Oniy after an uninitiated student gets acquainted with the basics do we h traditional first lesson of Manipuri Dance, that is Chali, which to Bhangis and composition dances.

It takes 7 to 10 years for a student to finish the course and then one has to practice regularly as long as one wishes to dance. We, in Meitei Jagoi, admit students after they complete 5 years of age. The first
three years of training are the most vital. The young ones are like lumps of clay. It gives me great pleasure to mould them and observe them taking shapes, supple and graceful. Together with their bodies, their minds mature, to make them self reliant. By the time they finish four years of training, they develop the sense of discernment. In course of teaching them dance, I learn so much more of life and
its ways.I like to teach the beginners myself for the first three years; later they may learn from others after they master the dance alphabets.

Here in Meitei Jagoi students enjoy dancing, it is an experience apart for them,
there is no competition, there is no examination, the only test is their performance
in which they participate every year in their Annual Day celebration.