Thabal chongba

"Thabal Chongba" or dancing in the moonlight (literal meaning: moonlight jumping or leaping) is related to the Hindu festival Holi and is a side product of the Ras-Lila.

In Manipuri society, free mixing of boys and girls is not really encouraged except during this communal gathering where everyone comes out and has a good time. The music is rhythmic beating of drums accompanied by other instruments. On the onset, the dancers form two circles, one of the boys and one of the girls. As the night progresses these two circles merge and form a single circle (or two if there are lots of dancers). The boys and girls hold hands and perform a kind of rhythmic dance to the beat of the drums. "Thabal Chongba" is quite similar to the Gujarati Garba except that the dancers here don't use the "dandiya".

External links

* [http://indiaimage.nic.in/chongba.htm]
* [http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=leisure.wj.10_reasons_why_I_love_Thabal_Chongba]
* [http://manipuri.20m.com/]