Kerala Culture
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Kerala Culture
The culture of Kerala has developed over the past millennia, influences from other parts of India and abroad.''The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities''
by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. .
It is defined by its antiquity and the organic continuity sustained by the Malayali people.. Modern Kerala society took shape owing to migrations from different parts of India and abroad throughout Classical Antiqui ...
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Theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice ...
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Padayani
Padayani, also known Padeni (from the Malayalam word for military formations), is a traditional folk dance and a ritual art from the central portion of the Indian state of Kerala. A ceremonial dance involving masks, it is an ancient ritual performed in Bhagavati temples. The dance is performed in honor of Bhadrakaali. Meaning, a 'row of warriors', Padayani is an art form that blends all music, dance, theatre, satire, facial masks, and paintings. It is part of worship of Bhadrakali and is staged in temples dedicated to the goddess from mid-December to mid-May. Padayani is unique to central Travancore, comprising the Pathanamthitta and kottayam districts of Kerala. Padayani is regarded as a remnant of the Dravidian forms of worship that existed before the advent of Brahmanism. Padayani is like Theyyam in north Kerala. The percussion instruments used in Patayani are patayani thappu, chenda, para and kumbham. Padayani at Puthukulangara Devi Temple, Othera, Pathanamthitta District ...
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Thirayattam
Thirayattam is a ritual performing ethnic art form of the South Malabar region in Kerala state, India. It blends dance, theatre, music, satire, facial and body painting, masking, martial art and ritualistic function. This vibrant art form has a great resemblance to the traditions and customs of the ancient civilization. Thirayattam usually enacted in courtyards of ''"kaavukal"'' (sacred groves) and village shrines of south Malabar region (kozhikode & malappuram dt:) in Kerala. Traditionally, the "Perumannan" community has the right to perform this magnificent art form in ''"kaavukal"'' (sacred Groves). Today, the members of "Panan" and "Cherumar" communities also perform Thirayattam. The performer comes into a trance with "Moorthy" or deity whose "Kolam" is enacted and moves vigorously, exhibiting belligerent mannerism and gestures, believed to be divine. See also *Theyyam Theyyam (/ t̪eːjjəm/; romanised: ''teyyam'') are Hindu ritualistic dance forms practiced in nort ...
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Ottamthullal
Ottan Thullal (or ''Ottamthullal'', Malayalam: ഓട്ടൻ തുള്ളൽ) is a recite-and-dance art-form of Kerala, India. It was introduced in the eighteenth century by Kunchan Nambiar, one of the Prachina Kavithrayam (three famous Malayalam-language poets). The folksy performance, often laced with humour intended at criticism of society, is accompanied by a mridangam (a barrel-shaped double-headed drum) and/or the handy idakka besides a pair of ilathalam cymbals. History Like most Indian performing art forms, Ottamthullal has its principles influenced by the Natya Shastra (). The word ''Thullal'' means "to jump" or "leap about" in the Malayalam language. Legend has it that Nambiar, the poet, fell asleep while playing the mizhavu drum for a Chakyar Koothu performance, inviting ridicule from the chakyar. In response, Nambiar developed Ottamthullal, which raised prevalent sociopolitical questions and made a satire of human pedigrees and prejudices. The chakyar compla ...
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Choreography
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who creates choreographies by practising the art of choreography, a process known as choreographing. It most commonly refers to dance choreography. In dance, ''choreography'' may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. Dance choreography is sometimes called ''dance composition''. Aspects of dance choreography include the compositional use of organic unity, rhythmic or non-rhythmic articulation, theme and variation, and repetition. The choreographic process may employ improvisation for the purpose of developing innovative movement ideas. In general, choreography is used to design dances that are intended to be performed as concert dance. The art of choreograph ...
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Mohiniyaattam
Mohiniyattam, ( ml, മോഹിനിയാട്ടം), is an Indian classical dance form that developed and remained popular in the state of Kerala. Kathakali is another classical dance form of Kerala. Mohiniyattam dance gets its name from the word Mohini – a historical enchantress avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu, who helps the good prevail over evil by developing her feminine powers. Mohiniyattam's roots, like all classical Indian dances, are in the ''Natya Shastra'' – the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text on performance arts. However, it follows the Lasya style described in ''Natya Shastra'', that is a dance which is delicate, eros-filled and feminine. It is traditionally a solo dance performed by women after extensive training, though nowadays men can also perform the dance. The repertoire of Mohiniyattam includes music in the Carnatic style, singing and acting a play through the dance, where the recitation may be either by a separate vocalist or the dancer themselves ...
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Mani Madhava Chakyar
Guru Mani Madhava Chakyar (IAST: ''Māṇi Mādhava Cākyār'') (15 February 1899 – 14 January 1990) was a celebrated master performance artist and Sanskrit scholar from Kerala, India, considered to be the greatest Chakyar Koothu and Koodiyattam (ancient Sanskrit drama theatre tradition) artist and authority of modern times. He was considered as the authority of '' Abhinaya'' (the classical Indian acting style) and ''Nātyaśāstra''. Known as "the Emperor of Rasa-Abhinaya", he had an exceptional ability to perform ''Rasa-Abhinaya''. His ''Netrābhinaya'' was world-famous and he had the ability to act only with eyes. He was well versed in all the traditional Koodiyattams and all the ''prabandhas'' used in Chakyar Koothu. He was able to explain the concepts, methods and practices of Koodiyattam and Chakyar Koothu in a clear and authentic way. He had an in depth study of ''Nātyaśāstra'' of Bharata Muni, as well as ways of acting which were popular in Kerala. His knowledg ...
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Stand-up Comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke, one-liners, stories, observations or a shtick that may incorporate Theatrical property, props, comedy music, music, Magic (illusion), magic tricks or ventriloquism. It can be performed almost anywhere, including comedy clubs, comedy festivals, bars, nightclubs, colleges or theatres. History Stand-up as a Western world, Western art form has its roots in the Stump speech (minstrelsy), stump speech of American minstrel shows, which featured an actor in blackface delivering nonsensical monologue to the audience. While the intention of stump speeches was to mock African-Americans, they also occasionally contained political and social satire. The minstrel show would later influence theatrical traditions of the late 19th and early 20th centu ...
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Koothu
Koothu or Therukoothu (jwalith) ( ta, கூத்து), is an ancient art, where artists play songs with dance and music in storytelling the epics, performed in Tamil; it is a folk art originated from the early Tamil country. More precisely Koothu refers to either Terukuttu (Tamil:தெருக்கூத்து) or Kattaikkuttu. The terms Terukkuttu and Kattaikkuttu are often used interchangeably in modern times; however, historically, the two terms appear to have distinguished, at least in certain villages, between two different kinds of performance: while Terukkuttu referred to mobile performances in a procession, Kattaikkuttu denotes overnight, narrative performances at a fixed performance space. Koothu as a form of entertainment reached its peak hundreds of years ago in Tamil Nadu, as mentioned in the Sangam texts about the development of iyal (literature), isai (music) and natagam (drama). Going beyond just a means of entertainment, koothu educates the rural peo ...
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Guru Gopinath
Perumanoor Gopinathan Pillai, more popularly known as Guru Gopinath (24 June 1908 – 9 October 1987) was a well known actor-cum-dancer. He is well regarded as the greatest preserver of the dance tradition. He is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Significance Guru Gopinath was well tempered by traditional discipline, but he expanded the framework of tradition. He was instrumental in introducing and popularising Kathakali, the illustrious dance drama of Kerala, lying in obscurity, to the outer world. He is considered one of the epic personalities of Indian dancing in the 20th century like Uday Shankar. He carved out a contemporary style of dancing, classical in form but popular in appeal, through which the fame of Kathakali spread far and wide in the beginning of the 1930s. He showed how Indian dancing could handle themes other an than those from Hindu mythology. Indian classical dance is the language of humanity, the global language. He popularised it by cho ...
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Dancer
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin. An important distinction is to be drawn between the contexts of theatrical and participatory dance, although these two categories are not always completely separate; both may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred/liturgical. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, synchronized swimming, marching bands, and many other forms of athletics. There are many professional athletes like, professional football players and soccer players, who take dance classes to help with their skills. To be more specific professional athl ...
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