The musical accompaniment for Manipuri dance comes from a percussion instrument called the pung, a singer, small cymbals, a stringed instrument called the pena and wind instrument such as a flute. The drummers are always male artistes and, after learning to play the pung, students are trained to dance with it while drumming. This dance is known as Pung cholom.

Manipuri dance has had a very different evolution from other Indian classical dances. With its origins in Manipur, which is surrounded by mountain ranges and geographically isolated at the meeting point of the orient and mainland India, Manipuri dance developed its own specific aesthetics, values, conventions and ethics.

It was originally only performed in temples and continues to form an integral part of the religious and social fabric of Manipur. Manipuri dance, whether folk, classical or modern, is devotional in nature. The people of Manipur are very religious and are exclusively attached to the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna, who are often the main characters depicted in Manipuri dances. Ras Lila is one such Manipuri dance.

It is only since the early 20th century that Manipuri dance has been presented on stage. It became better known outside the region through the efforts of Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet and philosopher who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He fell in love with the dance when he first saw it in 1920.

Tagore brought Manipuri dance teachers to the university created by him in Santiniketan (150km north of Kolkata). Today, traditional Manipuri dance continues to be taught in Santiniketan, as it is in Manipur and Delhi.