 |
- Adventure Tours
- Argentina Tours
- Australia Tours
- Bahamas Tours
- Bolivia Tours
- Brasil Tours
- Burma Tours
- Cambodia Tours
- Cuba Tours
- Egypt Tours
- Ethiopia Tours
- Hong Kong Tours
- India Tours
- Indonesia Tours
- Israel Tours
- Italy Tours
- Japan Tours
- Jordan Tours
- Malaysia Tours
- Maldives Tours
- Mexico Tours
Ancient theatre "Kathakali" in Kerala (INDIA)
What we wanted to do, was to visit a Kathakali theatre early in the morning to experience stage by stage the preparation for this traditional play. It takes long hours of preparation such as the make-up and costumes that are put on with great detail and care. We were so caught up into the moment of this traditional Hindu arts, that we decided to become one of them, maybe not equipped to be in stage, but at least back-stage.
Kathakali is the classical dance-drama of Kerala, South India, which dates from the 17th century and is rooted in Hindu mythology. Kathakali has a unique combination of literature, music, painting, acting and dance. As a conclusion Kathakali is a combination of rhythm, poetry, drama, dance and vocal instrumental music.
The stories and characters of Kathakali plays, are almost always the same: Emotional stories of the Hindu gods with the beauty and grace of expressive acting and dance.
Why we took the modesty to only become a Kathakali personage back-stage, was that real Kathakali performers undergo years and years of intensive physical training using traditional excersises of Kalaripayathu, giving them supple body movements and great endurance. They alos undergo a long course of instruction in abhinaya, the portrayal of emotions through facial expressions complemented by mudras (a complete language of manual gestures in prescribed patterns which enable the actor to interpret words of the story to the audience.) We were told that you could make 3000 words with mudras.
Anyway, we started our course of Abhinaya (portrayal of emotions through facial expressions) and Mudra (manual gesutres)
This was very much different from the drama courses we had in college. Dancing lessons, exagerrated eye movements to be noticed right from the far end of the theatre, eye brow movements, mouth movements and mudras, essential in the Kathakali. But it takes years to perfectionize all these and we just had an hour of express Kathakali lessons.
So back-stage, they prepared us to be noble (or thats what we assumed), because Kathakali characters are broadly divided into noble, wicked and grotesque. We realized that make-up was as important and maybe more important than the costumes, because the more elaborate the make-up the moer it heightened the dramatic effects. We were told that colour symbolism reflect certain categories of emotions. The green colour represents Saattvika reveals godliness, white represents spirituality. Red represents Rajasic reveals violence. Black represents Tamasic reveals evil. Yellow represents the combined character of Saatvika and Rajasic.
The designs on our face was drawn with a thin rod, this was the basic outline of the makeup, afterwards the makeup was elaborated more to what we would become, and because green was emphasized, we assumed we represented godliness.
Putting on the colourful costume was another very detailed process, our skirt was well stretched and pressed into frills garment, but before the skirt we were were put 40 layers of short cloth around our waist by the help of a long cloth twisted rope in order to give the skirt and oval shape. Not finished yet… later on, we were adorned with beads, armlets and mirrors with an unusual headress.
Now we were prepared only attire-wise to go on stage, but after watching the Kathakali performers with their elaborate facial expression, their dancing, their chanting, all in harmonious combination, we decided that we were better off back-stage….
India Tours
Brokpa tribe in the Ladakh - In the Kargil district at the border of Pakistan, situated midway between Srinagar and Leh...
Meet the Dalai Lama in person - 10th of March is the National Uprising day for the Tibetans living in exile.In this particular...
Sadhu Ashram in India - Join an Ashram for a couple of days and learn the philosophy of the Saddhus....
Jain Temple in India - In India , one of the things you have to do is visit a Jain Temple for two reasons: The different...
Become a star in a Bollywood movie - You wanted to become a star in Hollywood but found it was difficult enough even...
Ancient wrestling Kalaripayathu in Kerala - Kalaripayattu is possibly the oldest Martial art still practised in the world. This...
Ancient theatre "Kathakali" in Kerala - What we wanted to do, was to visit a Kathakali theatre early in the morning to...
Watch the dawn in Varanasi - Do you find yourself saying ‘Isn’t this the same sun rising everyday for millions of years...
Hemis Festival in Ladakh - Ladakh is a land bounded by two of the largest mountain ranges the Himalayas and the...
Largest festival on earth "The Kumbh Mela" - The Kumb Mela is such a large gathering with such a crowd that even jokes..
"Jaipur" The Pink City in Rajastan - We are used to artists drawing on canvas but in the very popular Elephant Festival in.