Indian kathakali dance-drama videos

Map of the states of India. Kerala, where kathakali comes from, is on the southwest coast.

In class, we watched a video of 'some guy' trying on kathakali makeup and practicing a few of the facial expressions. A brave attempt, given the long and intensive training Tommy described, which professionals feel is necessary before an actor can be seen onstage. Here are a few videos of professionals performing. Of course, there's not enough time in one week for you all to become rasika (connosieurs of the art)! But see if you can start to get a sense from these of what the major character types look like, what the major features of their makeup and costumes are, and how their acting styles differ. What kind of 7 or 9 year old boy might be selected to train for each specific character?

1) Two demonstrations of kathakali eye movements (without makeup)





2) A scene of Arjuna and Krishna, two paccha (green, heroic) archetypes. This is from a performance on a proscenium stage for a Western audience, so the polished white floor, modern lighting and lack of an audience nearby are all highly untraditional. Nevertheless, there's good cinematography and some very helpful subtitles.



3) A scene of a demoness (black) archetype, grooming herself. This is a different interpretation of the character of Sidhika from The Killing of Kirmira, the text I gave you for Wednesday. Once again, this is a performance on a proscenium stage with modern lighting and good cinematography. The video we'll see in class is a worse video, but it is taken in a traditional context. Compare these performances to get a sense of what is actually codified in the form, and what the actor can improvise.



4) A clip from a 1960s documentary on India by Louis Malle with footage shot in Madras of bharatanatyam, a classical dance form also related to the Sanskrit aesthetics of rasa and bhava, and kathakali. The kathakali sequence, which is of students practicing in a course at a conservatory in Madras, begins at around 7:40. Here we see how kathakali has been taken into the national arts curriculum and incorporated into the broader performance culture of South India.