Style of Manipuri dance is inextricably woven into the life pattern of Manipuri people. The dancer starts with movements known as chali. This however need not be identified with the Chari of the Natyashastra, but is a movement which suggests basic ways of walking and covering space. The dancer first moves to the front and back with hands held horizontally at the chest level. Thereafter move these hands vertically in an up and down direction.
The dancer then covers space in walking side-ways and ending by weaving circles and spirals. Here various types of bhramaris are initiated. Uplai and Longlai are the two distinct varieties of these Bhramaris. Some scholars consider them as bhava bhramari and antara bhramari of the Natyashastra. This is the finale of the dance cadences and time and again executed in multiples of three. Occasionally in vertical space, a spiral movement is executed, where the dancer body is like a screw which weaves a spiral vertically from a higher level to lower level. The dancer also takes a circle or a spin. This movement is very difficult though being very graceful. The jumping movements are typical of the Tandava portions of the dance.
In order to form the parengs the basic movements of the chali are connected together. They are rhythms of movement in a given metrical cycle. Several metrical cycles are there which has complicated in-beats and the cross-beats that require high level of accuracy. All the layas and different types of talas like the rajmela, the Rupaka, pancham-savari and tintala are used in parengs. Three bhangis have been attributed to King Bhagya-chanda Maharaja and two to his descendant, King Chandrakirti. The first three bhangis are used in the rasa portions of dance. The three other bhangis are the gostha bhangi pareng, the gostha Vrindavan pareng, and the gostha khurumba pareng. They are used by actors while presenting the character of Lord Krishna in the rasa portions of dance. The gostha khurumba pareng is rarely performed and is apparently out of trend.
As the dance has an elaborate system, it has a highly complex technique of movement and tala. Manipuri is perhaps the only classical style in which the hallisaka, the charchari and other forms that have been mentioned in classical Sanskrit literature survives. Manipuri exhibits many types of pindibandhas described in the Natyashastra in a chiseled fashion. All the four types of pindis mentioned by Bharata are seen in the rasa dances. Many other group formations which have had a mention in later texts have been used in Manipuri dance.
