Dance and costumes

Samina Husain Prema, a renowned classical Manipuri dancer, is a busy performer, choreographer and teacher. Prema's dance school Bhabna teaches classical, Manipuri and Bharatanatyam to students from different age groups. She recently spoke to The Daily Star about her students, dance forms and the accessories that come with it.

“It's not that I don't teach male students but in Bangladesh boys tend not to dance that much. Since I have handful of students in my school, during any kind of dance show, I also select performers from outside.

“There are different dance forms, and the attires also vary according to the type of dance, maintaining the theme. Classical dance, Bharatnatayam and Manipuri all have different styles and costumes as well.

“Classical dance follows a very strict pattern of costume; so is the music for it and even the ornaments differ – from minute details like fastening of the ghungur and the style of the makeup.”

 “For folk, fusion and modern dance, there is usually a complete set of costume. It has no similarity with the main genre of dance, which has been taught mainly in South East Asia.”

 “Seasons have a lot to offer to dancers' wardrobes, too. Different seasons require us to wear different colours of attire and make up as well. Ultimately, it's a mixture of the dance theme, the type of dance, the season and the genre of the song that requires us to dress up in different forms.”