Khamba Thoibi dance is a ceremonial duet performance describing the story of a poor and brave lad of the Khuman Clan of Khamba. The boy fell in love with a girl, Thoibi. She was a princess of Moirang. Both keenly love each other. They succeeded in entering into a love affair. But for that, many heroic deeds on the part of Khamba were done and the troubles were taken by Thoibi. The King, the father of Thoibi did everything possible to defy her will. They performed a dance in front of the god Thangjing. (Some perhaps ill-conceived versions claim that after this they came to be known as the incarnation of Shiva and Parvati.)<br /><br />Khamba Thoibi dance is a duet of male and female partners to show dedication to the sylvan deity known as Thangjing of Moirang. It is a form of the dance that depicts a performance by Khamba and Thoibi, the hero and heroine of the Moirang episode. This dance with the "Maibi" also termed as Priestess dance & the "Leima Jagoi" form the "Laiharaoba" dance, Popular as festival dance. Khamba Thoibi dance is widely performed in Manipur. It is a popular art form. Generally, it is performed either as part of Laihaoraoba or as an independent performance.<br /><br />The "Laiharaoba" dance is treated as an excellent example of the modern Manipuri dance form. This dance is a part and parcel of Moirang Lai-Haraoba.This dance was performed before the Lord Thangjing, which was a celebrated deity of Moirang. The village is in the Southwest of Manipur & rich in its rich cultural traditions, for peace and prosperity. Manipuri dance covers a number of different dances from Manipur, a state in the northeast corner of India. The main dance types are the Laiharoaba, the Samkirtana, and the Rasalila. The classical style of dances is described as being the most graceful of all the classical Indian dances. Rabindranath Tagore used the style for his female characters in his famous dance dramas.<br /><br />Viewer Linthoi Chanu informs us that "this dance is a part of the Lai Haraoba festival of Manipur and is not at all related to Hinduism, which was introduced in Manipur during the early 17th and 18th century. He goes on to inform us that the issue of Hinduism in Manipur is a very sensitive one and hence, any information which is not supported by accurate research can do more harm than help to spread the knowledge of the beautiful culture of Manipur to people around the world." Thanks for the inputs, Linthoi!<br /><br />The technique of Manipuri dance is probably the most graceful of all the classical dances of India. The body follows the path of 8 and the feet movements generate light touch on the ground. The face has a subdued expression while the eyes mostly express the bhaktirasa or the emotion of devotion. There are two styles of this dance form: the tandava and the lasya. In tandava, we have the Cholom tandava done by men and the Krishna tandava, which is a counterpart of the lasya technique in Rasalila. The lasya is a very graceful style in Manipur. Rabindranath Tagore used this technique for the female characters in his dance dramas.<br /><br />The emotional part of this dance form follows the rasa theory as written in the Vaishnava texts. The pancharasa- shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya and madhura- are the main emotions on which the Vaishnavite Manipuri Dance is based. Manipur stands apart from all the Indian Classical dances for the beautiful costumes of the Rasalila, which is a unique creation of the people of Manipur. Religion and art have merged completely in the making of dance in Manipur. Even today one cannot identify Manipuri dance without the presence of the gods Krishna and Radha.<br /><br />Source: Wikipedia & http://folk-dances.tripod.com/id9.html<br /><br />This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
