DANCE AS MIRROR OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE: A PEEK INTO MANIPURI PERFORMANCE HISTORY

The paper attempts to highlight significant moments in the history of Manipuri dance and their implications on the dynamics of social and cultural developments of the time. The dancing body is now no longer a simple reproduction of historically created style of human movement that seem to continue forever as symbol of people’s tradition and culture. The dancer’s body is now read as sign, as discourse, as platform for human experience and the structure and formulations of movements in time in the body do inform particular thoughts, ideas, emotions and affects that were involved in the creation of a language of dance. By analyzing the kind of dance produced in creative people’s history, we shall be able to provide hints on the structure of power, knowledge and the world views of the society of the times. No doubt technology, utilization of resources, spiritual and religious influences and power exercise do impact on social and cultural change. But the kind of dance style also do inform on the very nature of the creative inputs of society that had been necessitated in the production of the dance. Reading dance can also be as pleasurable as reading literature.We shall study the pre – Haraoba, the Lai Haraoba dance and its transformation into the 18 th century classical dance of the Raas Leela during the conversion of the Manipuris into Hinduism. The introduction of colonial money economy and structural changes in the society and culture and its impact on dance shall be explored. Globalization and its impact on dance traditions shall also be indicated. As we go deeper into the semantic field in the structure and form of dance, operas and performance in different stages of history, we are able to discover the manifold transformation in the realm of peoples’ and rulers’ ideas on life, relationships and processes in response to the challenges of the time. The challenges no doubt come sometimes from outside of the realm in which the people thrive. Foreign conquests and introduction of new ways of life and action also impinges on the traditional equilibrium in society. There are times of turmoil and unease. Livelihood and art are in moments of crisis. But the response to the crises is unique, as the culture of the time indicates the resilience of that society in culture. Manipuri dance history relates this experience.