Kathakali - An art of Story Telling from Kerala

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Kerala is known the world over by its own performing art form, the Kathakali.

"Katha" means story and "Kali" stands for dance.

It is a beautiful mix of dance, drama and music that the connoisseurs of art world qualified as 'a total art form of immense sophistication and power'.

It is a mime show, dancing with mudras (formulated hand gestures conveying the text of lyrics) and specialised dancing steps following the song rendered in the background by a singer to the accompaniment of Chenda, Maddalam (country drums), Chenkila and Elathalam (Cymbals).

This is a form of dance formerly confined only to the festival stages in temples.

Kathakali is one of the oldest theatre forms in the world. It originated in the area of southwestern India now known as the state of Kerala.

Kathakali is a group presentation, in which dancers take various roles in performances traditionally based on themes from Hindu mythology, especially the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

One of the most interesting aspects of Kathakali is its elaborate make-up code.

Characters are categorized according to their nature.

This determines the colours used in the make-up.

The faces of noble male characters, such as virtuous kings, the divine hero Rama, etc., are predominantly green.

Characters of high birth who have an evil streak, such as the demon king Ravana, are allotted a similar green make-up, slashed with red marks on the cheeks.

Extremely angry or excessively evil characters wear predominantly red make-up and a flowing red beard.

Forest dwellers such as hunters are represented with a predominantly black make-up base.

Kathakali is one of the oldest theatre forms in the world. It originated in the state of Kerala.

The technique of Kathakali includes a highly developed language of gesture, through which the artist can convey whole sentences and stories.

The body movements and footwork are very rigourous.

To attain the high degree of flexibility and muscle control required for this art, a Kathakali dancer undergoes a strenuous course of training, and special periods of body massage.

The orchestra of a Kathakali performance includes two drums known as the chenda,maddalam&ela taalam.

Normally,two singers provide the vocal accompaniment.The style particular to Kathakali is called Sopaanam.