Anjika Centre for Manipuri Dance & Movement Therapy

Established in 1995 under the guidance of Late MK Binodini Devi, Late Pandit N Khelchandra Singh and Late Ojha Th Babu Singh, the Centre provides a holistic education in the classical Manipuri dance form.

Through Anjika, Priti Patel has made a lifetime commitment to pass on to the next generations of Teachers the comprehensive regimes and training techniques developed by the great Gurus of the form, Late Guru Bipin Singh and Late Ojha Th. Babu Singh, as well as the collated wisdom of masters such as the Late Ojha Khetritombi Devi, Late Ojha Pandit N.Kelchandra Singh, Late Ojha Surchand Sharma and Late Ojha Kumar Maibi.

As a professional Danseuse, Miss Patel is probably exceptional in the comprehensiveness of her approach;
she has undergone training even in stage lighting;
from the renowned designer Late Shri Tapas Sen.

Priti Patel
Anjika School

Organisational Overview

Anjika’s Governing Body is based in Kolkata and their names are listed on the Constitution of the Board of Management. A Panel of Advisors operates from Imphal.

Aims and Objectives

  1. To build an Institution catering to all the aspects of Manipuri Dance and Culture.
  2. To run an integrated learning programme for the disabled, using dance as Therapy.
  3. To collect and record the works of existing eminent Gurus and thereby form a Research and an Archive Wing.
  4. To facilitate training in Manipur for students from other parts of India and abroad.
  5. To conduct Workshops, Lecture Demonstrations and Seminars that will enable the students of Anjika and other Institutions to reach an appreciation and understanding of India’s different dance styles.
  6. To encourage new compositions and to promote excellence in performance.
Anjika School
Pakhangba
Lai Haraoba

Lai Haraoba

LAI-HARAOBA is one of the most important and indigenous ritual festival in Manipur. It is celebrated to please and propitiate the ancestors through ritualistic dance and music.

Sankirtana

Manipuri Sankirtana is a form of performing art involving ritualistic singing, drumming and dancing and performed in the temples and domestic spaces in Manipur.

Sankirtana
Ras Leela

Ras Leela

Ras Leelas are dance dramas performed on the full moon night in the temples of Manipur.

The main Ras Leela is the Maharas on the full moon night of Kartik Poornima, Krishna to fulfil a promise, dances with the Gopis. For every Gopi there appears a Krishna and through His maya He dances with each of them in the ecstatic dance of union.

Thang Ta

Thang Ta

The long period of independence which the Manipuris sustained in the course of their history was due to their combat strategies and warrior skills embodied through the glorious martial tradition of “Huyen Lallong”, now popularly known as ‘Thang-Ta’.

Anjika Logo

The tradition and
the responsibility
and finally the sadhana and the fulfillment
it brings

S Karuna Devi

S Karuna Devi is the head of Lai Haraoba & Ras Leela Department. She has been awarded Grade "A" in Manipuri Dance by the Central Audition Board Prasar Bharati, New Delhi and she has also received Usatad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar Award 2017 from Sangeet Natak Academy New Delhi. She has also received Scholarship and Junior Fellowship from Minstry Of Culture, New Delhi and she is an M Mus (first class first) in Manipuri Dance from Visva Bharati Shantiniketan.

S Karuna Devi

W Surajkumar &
K Ratan Singh

K Ratan Singh and W Surajkumar create heart-touching rhythms with Pung (drum) and other traditional Manipuri instruments. A part of Anjika since 2003, they have participated in many significant festivals and programmes with the troupe, crisscrossing India and the globe. At present both of them are Head of the Sankirtana Department.

W Surajkumar
K Ratan Singh

Th Imocha Singh

Thokchom Imocha Singh is the Head of Anjika’s Thang-Ta (Manipuri Martial Arts) Department. A striking and dynamic performer, he is the recipient of the prestigious Ustad Bismilla Khan Yuva Puruskar Award 2006 from Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi India.

Th Imocha Singh