Popular Dance & Music of Kerala
Kathakali :
The literal meaning of Kathakali is story play. The dance drama depict scenes and events from Hindu mythology, typically from Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Kathakali artists wear heavy makeup and magnificent costumes to depict good and evil characters. Positive and negative characters paint their faces according to the characters they play. The body language of the dancers are rigourous, nevertheless very graceful and flexibility is required in the body of a Katahakali performer.
Mohiniattam :
The term Mohiniattam derives from Mohini and attam. The former implies a woman who lures spectators while the latter means graceful and sensuous body movements. Together, these two terms indicate that Mohinattam is a dance of enchantment. Mohinattam has devotion to god as its primary theme and the god invariably is either Vishnu, the preserver of Universe or Krishna, the lover god. There are basically two stories of Lord Vishnu in form of Mohini. The first one has him trying to distract the attention of demons from nectar of immortality while the second story depicts him trying to rescue Lord Shiva from the demon Bhasmasura.
The Mohinattam dancers dress up elegantly in a white with gold border Kasavu saree of Kerala. The hair is tied on one side as a French bun and is decorated with white jasmine flowers. The dancers move their body from one side to another in a graceful manner reminding the gentle movement of palm leaves and the flowing rivers that are seen in abundance in the state of Kerala. The dancers also makes good use of their eyes and aim to influence the mind of spectator instead of senses (remember the dance of enchantment).
Koodiyattam :
Koodiyattam is considered the oldest dance form of the world (around 2000 years old) which is the reason why it has been designated as the Human Heritage Art by the UNESCO. As per tradition, Koodiyattam is performed by the Chakyars" (a sub caste of Kerala Hindus). The female roles went only to "Nangyars" (women of Nambiar caste). The word, Koodiyattam itself means combined dance forms. This perhaps indicates the combined effort put in by these two caste to perform the dance. It is basically a temple dance (though performed outside also) and is performed usually during night hours.
Ottamthullal :
This is yet another dance form of Kerala which was developed by Kunjan Nambiar as an alternative to Chakiarkuthu. He was a Malayali poet thoroughly disgusted over the socio-political structure and prejudices of the region. The dance has a single performer who renders thulla songs while acting and dancing simultaneously. He is assisted by a musician who stands behind and gives leads. Also, there are two other people on instruments - Maddalam, a kind of drum and a pair of cymbals. The dance is also known as the poor man's kathakali.
Chakiarkuthu :
The term koothu means dance and Chakiarkuthu is a performing art which was traditionally carried out by Chakiar community. Originally, it was performed inside a Hindu temple. The performer started of with a prayer of the deity and continued on with a recital of verse. This was followed by a translation of verse in Malayalam for the convenience of spectators. The content included various current social and political issues and also took the liberty of ridiculing prominent personalities (even if they were present at the performance). The instrument utilized in the performance were mizhav and a pair of cymbals.
