Priti Patel and her 11-member dance group from India gave an outstanding performance of Chitra, The Princess of Manipur last Sunday at the Daaga Auditorium at the UWI, St Augustine. The dance was filled with slow fluid movements, combined with bursts of energetic martial arts display. The somber mood created by the lighting and the music blended well to tell of the emotions of Chitra, who fell in love with Arjuna while hunting. Chitra is based on a poem written by the legendary Rabindranath Tagore and was later expanded by the poet into a full fledged dance drama entitled Chitrangada. Patel has reinterpreted its nuances and linked it with a thousand silent questions that still arise in the hearts of women the world over. The choreography explores a woman's mind: her interpretation of sorrow and joy, dejection and anger, love and self esteem and the choices created by them.
Patel and her troupe were in T&T courtesy the government of India to give three free performance. The group comes from the Indian state of Manipur where dance is not just a form of art, but a way of life and a medium of expression that is interwoven with the social fabric of the Manipuri society. Patel told the T&T Guardian that she was also involved in bringing the experience of dance to children suffering with Cerebral Palsy. During her visit she hosted two workshops for children with Cerebral Palsy. She said it was not a one off process, but one that would take years. Patel has undergone formal training from the Lesley College, Boston in the United States in Dance and Movement Therapy, and has worked with special children in collaboration with the Indian Institute for Cerebral Palsy. She has developed a unique form of therapy, where special children with a motor co-ordination disorder are given movement therapy through the medium of dance.
Manipuri dance, with it's gentle, smooth and fluid movements, helps these special children in gaining control of their limbs, while it helps in uplifting their spirit to gain confidence. According to the legend, when the Supreme God, Lai Guru Sidaba, created the earth, He created seven gods and seven goddesses. These celestial beings leveled the uneven surfaces of the earth with dance, which is believed to be the seminal form of what is now called the classical Manipuri dance form. Dance is considered by the Manipuris as a form of worship. The study of Manipuri dance has been imparted over the ages in the Guru-shishya parampara, through a holistic approach where students take lessons not just in dance but also on the values of life.
Patel was initiated into the world of dance when she was five. At the age of 12, she started learning dance from Manipuri dance gurus Bipin Singh and The Jhaveri sisters. Patel excelled as a danseuse, especially in the Vaishnavite Ras Leela form of the Manipuri dance tradition. However, her quest for mastery and perfection made her delve more into the study of this unique dance tradition. Patel started giving lessons on Manipuri dance to her own students, at the same time trying to preserve its very essence and sanctity. In November 1995, through the efforts of Pandit N Khelchandra Singh and Maharajkumari Binodinio Devi, who wanted to hand over to Priti Patel the torch of imparting education in this unique dance tradition to students outside Manipur, Priti Patel laid foundation of a unique school called Anjika in Kolkata.
Through her school, Priti Patel has been imparting training and expertise in this dance form in the same unique tradition that has been followed over the ages, while teaching her students the value system that has been passed down the generations. Shows were also held at the Divali Nagar, Chaguanas, on Tuesday, and at the Lord Kitchener Auditorium, National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain, last evening.