Indian dancing

KATHAKALI

Kathakali is meant to be performed in the open air and does not lend itself to the limitations of the modern stage, unless the setting is attanged with the best of taste, though many young Indian dancers have adapted it to new settings which, alas, deprives it of its grandeur. The setting is simplicity itself, consisting of a Shamiana, ot improvised canopy, propped up by four crude poles ot bamboo sticks. A large bell-metal lamp illumines the stage with a soft light.

A KATHAKALI PERFORMANCE The performance is announced all over the village by Ae/ikottu, or beating of a drum, at about the hour of sunset. When the audience is gathered, vandanaslokam and thodayam, i.e. prayet and dance music, are played behind the curtain. This ended, a cacophony of drums and trumpets, called purrapadu, heralds the entry of the players about twelve dancers, four singers, and four drummers.

The recital starts with a musical prelude lasting three hours, from six to nine o’clock. This is known as me/appada, ot a musical contest between the player of the chenda, a cylindrical drum hung from the neck, and the performer on the waddalam, a small variety of drum.

When the music ends, the dancers tise and give their performance, which lasts about five hours. All the characters are fantastically gatbed, those portraying apsaras, or celestial dancing girls, wearing wooden masks and very large garments, while those who appear as demons have their faces outlined with chutti, or tice paste. Only those enacting the roles of rishis, or hermits, are dressed plainly.

The music accompanying the drama is very much like that in Bharata Natyam; it, too, includes the throbbing of temple drums. The full implications and effect of Kathakali are not easily appreciated by those unacquainted with the Kathakali technique and its traditions.

SUMMING UP The Kerala Kalamandalam, the poet Vallathol’s dance academy in Malabar, is the largest centre in India to-day for the training of Kathakali dancers. In it Kunjukurup of Thakazhi, Ravanni Menon

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