In a move to give the artists the skills to act in drama like a warrior, the Samagam Rangmandal a theatre group organized a workshop on ‘Thang-Ta’ marshal art of Manipur.
As many 30 artists in age group from 18 to 25 years from Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh participated in the workshop. Thirty artists participated in the workshop.
Ashish Pathak, senior director of Samagam Rangmandal based in Jabalpur says it was necessary for the artists to undergo the training on marshal art to act like a warrior.
Thang-Ta is an ancient traditional art form of Manipur in north-east, he said.
Chingtham Ranjeet Khuman expert of marshal art from Manipur trained the participatants on ‘Thang-Ta’ form of marshal art.
The ancient marshal art form is used to stage a particular character of warrior in proper manner as use of different traditional weapons like sword, spear, dagger, etc.
With the practice of physical control through soft movements coordinated with the rhythms of breathing enables the artists to stage with perfection, Pathak said.
The theatre group is preparing for drama ‘Bhumi’ based on Rajkumari Chitrangada known as warrior princess in the epic Mahabharat, he said.
Rajkumari Chitrangada was a warrior princess of Manipur and the only heir of king Chitravahana, she is known as one of the wife of Arjun, he said.
Soon a team of four or five artists will go to Imphal, Manipur to study the culture, music and costume of the people, he said.
These will enable to artists to understand the culture and will definitely strengthen the cultural bond with the north-east states. Artists Swati Dubey, Sakshi Dubey, Jyotsana Kataria, Shivanjali Gajbhiye, Anshika Gupta, Shivakar Sapre, Harshit Singh Thakur shared a common view on the Manipur’s marshal art form say it was great to learn the art form.
