What is Kathakali?
"Kathakali dance-drama is a distinctive genre of South Asian performance which developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the Malayalam speaking coast region of south-west India known today as Kerala State." (Zarrilli xi)
"Kathakali is a synthetical art of perfectly balanced structure, a still living form of the original unity of music, dance and drama. Rhythm is in the initial urge, out of which the different expressions are born, and as long as rhythm is primary and essential, none of the elements can prevail. They are equivalent and insoluble. In Kathakali rhythm is throughout predominant and simultaneously manifested through poetry, music and gesture." (Boner 63)
"While so many other forms of theater in India are barely known at all kathakali is, arguably, the most widely known and best documented of India's many forms of dance-drama." (Emigh 173)
"Kathakali is a synthetical art of perfectly balanced structure, a still living form of the original unity of music, dance and drama. Rhythm is in the initial urge, out of which the different expressions are born, and as long as rhythm is primary and essential, none of the elements can prevail. They are equivalent and insoluble. In Kathakali rhythm is throughout predominant and simultaneously manifested through poetry, music and gesture." (Boner 63)
"While so many other forms of theater in India are barely known at all kathakali is, arguably, the most widely known and best documented of India's many forms of dance-drama." (Emigh 173)
Where and When did Kathakali originate?
"Legend traces the birth of Kathakali back to an incident in the middle of the seventeenth century, when a Zamorin of Calicut wrote a story of Krsna in Sanskrit, the Krsnattam, in the style of Gita-Govinda, and had it performed at his court. When asked by the court of Travancore to lend his troupe for some solemnity, he replied disdainfully that the Southern court had not enough culture to understand the play. The court of Travancore answered the insult by enacting a similar drama in Malayalam on the subject of the Ramayana. It was called the Ramanattam and out of that that Kathakali are supposed to have evolved." (Boner 62)
What kind of training is involved?
"It is a long and arduous path because there are no shortcuts to perfecting a technique which calls for intricate and independent movement of muscles which have never been asked to work in this particular way before. It will take time - at least six, eight, or ten years to conquer the basics. It will take even more time - an entire lifetime - to become a master. With good reason actors generally state that the individual only reaches his prime as a performer at the age of forty. Beyond this age one sees the seasoned, mature, virtuosic actors." (Richmond 318)
"The daily practice for the pupils starts early in the morning at about five o'clock with one hour of eye exercises. By them they achieve an extraordinary mobility and quickness of the glance and every degree of intensity of expression. They are taught how to create space and distances by the glance and how to portray every kind of emotion and action. There are Kathakalis who pride themselves to be able to play certain scenes or to relate a story by glance only. Besides the eyes they practise (sic) every muscle of the face in order to master them independently. They go so far as to produce sometimes different expression on either side of the face." (Boner 68)
"It is a rule that every pupil must study and act all the parts of a play in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the whole material. Then only will he be allowed to specialise according to his personal disposition. Young boys are mostly chosen for female roles, while fierce characters, demons and monkeys are generally reserved for a more mature age. During ninety days of the rainy season the work starts at about three o'clock in the morning, when a course of massage is given to the pupils." (Boner 69)
"The daily practice for the pupils starts early in the morning at about five o'clock with one hour of eye exercises. By them they achieve an extraordinary mobility and quickness of the glance and every degree of intensity of expression. They are taught how to create space and distances by the glance and how to portray every kind of emotion and action. There are Kathakalis who pride themselves to be able to play certain scenes or to relate a story by glance only. Besides the eyes they practise (sic) every muscle of the face in order to master them independently. They go so far as to produce sometimes different expression on either side of the face." (Boner 68)
"It is a rule that every pupil must study and act all the parts of a play in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the whole material. Then only will he be allowed to specialise according to his personal disposition. Young boys are mostly chosen for female roles, while fierce characters, demons and monkeys are generally reserved for a more mature age. During ninety days of the rainy season the work starts at about three o'clock in the morning, when a course of massage is given to the pupils." (Boner 69)
What does Kathakali look like when performed?
"The why and what of kathakali emerges in considerations of where, when, and for whom it is performed, and of how and by whom it is learned, taught, enacted, and changed." (Emigh 173)
Check out the youtube clips below!
Check out the youtube clips below!
Who is a famous Kathakali actor?
Kalamandalam Gopi is one of the most well-known kathakali actors. Please check out his interview below.