**DR. SUNIL KOTHARI** **DR. SUNIL KOTHARI** is a well-known Dance critic, scholar and writer having several books on Indian Classical Dances and articles in magazine and newspapers to his credit. He was a Professor of Dance in Rabindra Bharati University and J.N.University and regularly lectures on dance in India and abroad. He is a recipient of 'Padmashri Award' and the 'Sangeet Natak Akademi Award'. Geographically bounded on one side by the Indo-Burma border and on the other by the Assam Hills, Manipur has for centuries preserved and nurtured its own distinct dance and music traditions. There is no occasion during which dance and music are not a part of life in Manipur. Right from the birth of a child, the piercing of the ears, the sacred thread ceremony, marriage, death, after-death ceremonies —all the major stages of life are celebrated with dance and music. Nowhere else in India are dance and music