The lights dim and dancers come onstage. The music starts to play, and you can see the big, elaborate costumes and lots of detailed makeup. No words are said, but the story is understood. You have just experienced the magic of Kathakali dance.
These dances are traditional to Kerala. They are like plays and tell stories from legends. There is no speaking in the performance, so the dancers use their bodies and expressions to describe what is happening in the scene. There is a big emphasis on eye movements, which are used to show the emotions of the character. There are nine main emotions used: love, valour, wonder, tranquility, anger, disgust, fear, compassion, and comedy. I’ve done my best to label them as accurately as possible.
We watched a few traditional dances as well as a main story. The first ones were done by women, although in the olden days, men would usually play those parts. The costumes were very beautiful with lots of colour. The girls also wore flowers in their hair which looked really nice.
The main story we watched was about a demon named Narakasura. He had a lot of women in his palace, but he felt he needed more. So, he sent his servant Nakrathundi to heaven to kidnap more ladies. Nakrathundi went to heaven disguised as a fair maiden. While on her mission, she met Jayantha, the son of the god Indra, and fell in love with him. Jayantha also fell in love with her. Nakrathundi wanted to get married, but Jayantha wanted his father to meet her first. Nakrathundi knew Indra would be able to see through her disguise, so she tried to convince him again. But Jayantha got angry and rebuffed her, so in her fury, Nakrathundi took off her disguise and attacked him. Unfortunately for her, Jayantha had his sword, so to punish her, he cut off her arms, nose, and breasts, after which Nakrathundi fled back to Narakasura.
After this story, there was a man who was dressed in red and held a sword and shield. He was a pretty crazy character, and at one point he ran into the audience. Then he used makeup around his eyes and put a dot on the foreheads of whoever was sitting in the aisle, including Zoe and I. After the performance, we took a picture with him on stage. I tried to figure out who he was, but even after extensive online research, I wasn’t able to. If anyone knows more about his character, please leave a comment because I would love to know.
The characters can be identified through their makeup. The different base colours have different meanings and tells the character’s personality. For example, green is for heroes and black is for villains. The base colours may be the same, but each character has its own designs which are only used for the one character. Since I was not aware of this, when we were watching the performance, I thought the hero in the play was the villain!
Before the performance, we saw the makeup application for the actor who played Jayantha. We had the best seat in the room because the makeup artist invited us to sit up on the platform where he was doing the actor’s makeup! There is a lot of makeup used, so it looks like a mask. First, the actor painted on the coloured part (the green, black or other colours, and the designs). Then he lay down and the makeup artist used a white paste to make lines on his face, around the bottom half of his face. Then he put these foam pieces in the space between the lines so they stuck out of the actor’s face. When we watched this process, it took about an hour, but a more elaborate makeup could take up to 3 hours to apply!
This reminded me of the backstage tour of the Essen Opera House in Germany because the pictures we saw of the makeup there was very elaborate. It also looked like it would take quite a while to apply it all.
Along with the dance performances, we watched a martial arts demonstration. It was done by four men and they performed in groups of two. There was fighting with hands, long and short sticks, daggers, and swords (I am pretty sure the last two weren’t fake). They also did cool tricks with the sticks, spinning them around their bodies. Everything they did looked pretty easy, but looking at their giant muscles and how they were sweating, you could tell it was not.
Watching the Kathakali dances was very interesting and gave us a look at some of Kerala’s traditions. I think it would be great if this was brought to Canada or other parts of the world so more people can have the chance to experience this beautiful art form.
Comments
4 responses to “Our Kathakali Dance Experience!”
Hi Mik,
This was certainly a very colourful blog!!!! The dances were very unique! I wonder how long it would take to learn not only the dances, but how to apply make-up with such intricate facial designs?
Hi Baba,
I read that in order to be a makeup artist or performer, they have to go to school to learn it for a long time. The colours are so beautiful and the makeup really adds to the performance!
Hi, Mikhaila, as always I’m way behind with my reading, and Opa and I read this posting twice and checked out all the fascinating photos. The costumes and colours are amazing and how great is that: you had a front row seat in the make up “department”. I think it’s just great that everybody is so eager to share with you, whether it’s the art of dancing or the make up session. How many instruments would be used as back ground music? And does the music get really dramatic, for instance when the arms get cut off? I like to look at the hand movements too. It’s a great posting, we liked all the photos and they enhance the story. Thanks for sharing. Hugs to all
Hello Oma,
There were only a few instruments used as accompaniment and they would get really loud when something dramatic happened. It was amazing to be so close to the action happening!