Arts of Kerala

Arts of Kerala
|Koodiyattam |Koothu |Krishnatam and Ramanattam|
|Mohiniyattam| Kathakali |Ottan Thullal |Ashtapadi Attom |Pathakom|

Arts of Kerala:

Kerala, the homes of several dance forms. Some of which have been adopted from other areas and over centuries transformed into a local expression typical of Kerala.

The classical dances:

Classical dances are based fully or partially on the principles and techniques embodied in the ancient Hindu scriptures and technical texts on dance and allied arts. The earliest of these known scripts is Bharatha’s Natya Shastra believed to have been written around the second century B.C. The concept of portraying emotion, the grace of the individual dances and the virtuosity of the isolated poses are all important in classical dances. Emphasis has been given to different aspects of the dance, namely pure bodily movements, aids to dance like theme, song, instrumental music, the expression of emotions, moods and sentiments, the dress, ornaments, makeup and the stage.

Theyyam, Koodiyattam, Koothu, Krishnatam, Ramanatam, Mohiniyattam, Kathkali, Ottan Thullal, Ashtapadi Attom, and Pathakom are the most important Classical Dances.

Koodiyattam

The existing art forms of Kerala widened with the coming if the Aryans several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. The Aryans brought with them their language Sanskrit and with them their culture which was entirely different from the Dravidian culture.
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Koothu

Koothu is a mono-act in which a single actor, the chakiar acts the role of all the characters to the accompaniment of the mizhavu played by the Nambiar and the cymbals by the Nangiar. The members of the professional Chakyar caste perform this classical dance and that too only in Koothambalams of Temples.
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Krishnatam and Ramanattam

The Krishnatam is designed as a votive offering to Krishnan. The theme of this dance form is the story of Krishna and is presented in a series of eight acts dealing with the life of Krishna in a sequential order. It is presented in the form of a dance drama with impressively costumed participants some of whom wear masks.
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 Mohiniyattam

Almost all the classical dances of Kerala are the preserve of male performers except Mohiniyattam – the dance of celestial enchantress. Mohiniyattam is probably the youngest dance technique which was developed and which subsequently acquired q firm footing in the cultural arena of kerala.
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Kathakali

The format of Ramanatam served as an inspiration for other legends and they were patterned on the same lines. Gradually this dance form acquired a new name ‘Kathkali’ meaning literally story – play.As in the case of Ramanatam and Krishnatam, Kathakaliis also of royal birth. Some kings were expert dancers and participated in performances. 
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Ottan Thullal

Ottan Thullal is a typical solo dance in which the humorous elements from Koothu and the musical elements from Kathakali are combined. Its origin is attributed to Kunchan Nambiar, a veritable genius and one of the fore most poets of Kerala. Nambiar developed Ottan Thullal into the most popular folk arts presented in kerala temples.
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Astapadi Attom: 

This is aqn almost extinct dance form based on the Geeta Govinda of jayadeva. It was more of a dramatic representation of the renowned lyrical play. Altogether there are only five characters, Krishna, Radha and three female companions. This form is now almost extinct. The instruments chenda, maddalam, elathalam and chengala are also present.
 

Pathakom

This is another typical dance form similar to Koothu in its technical content. But here the dance form is almost given up and the narration is done through alternating prose and song sequences, the gestures being retained. A new literary form called Champu, which accommodated more and more of Malayalam idiom and vocabulary was used as text for Pathakom. Literally means dissertation, Pathakom is performed by Nambiars even outside temple precincts.