By IANS,
New Delhi : Beating their drums in perfect harmony and synchronising their body movements simultaneously, 11 young drummers left the audience spellbound when they performed the traditional Manipuri classical dance Pung Cholom here.
The boys, aged between seven and 12 years, were dressed in their traditional attire – white dhoti, white turban and a yellow stole – complete with white sandalwood paste smeared across their foreheads. They even wore gold earrings.
The performance, at the National School of Drama late Tuesday, used graceful, acrobatic movements without breaking the rhythm. It started on a gentle rhythm and built up into a thunderous climax, drawing loud applause.
Even as the audience couldn’t stop raving about the performance after it ended, the Manipuris went back to the green room and changed into their track pants and stuffed their drums into their bags at lightning speed.
Nine-year-old Bishal Maiteyi explained that Pung is the percussion instrument and Cholom means the body movement. Pung Cholom is a unique form of dance in which the pung player and the dancer become one.
“I like playing the pung and dancing. We practiced for this performance for a month in our training school,” Maiteyi said in broken Hindi and took help from his guru for translation.
Besides the pung, dholok and dhol, other forms of drums were also used in the performance.
Arjesh Maiteyi, aged 11, said: “This is the first time that we have performed outside home. We were very excited. We weren’t scared at all.”
Arjun Sharma, who came to watch the show with his friend, said: “It’s been a long time since I have seen such a great show. It was brilliantly choreographed and so well synchronised.”
The troupe, led by their teacher Singajeet Singh, will next perform in Bangalore Friday before heading back home.