Saturday, March 03, 2007

Kathakali

Around 6pm I made my way to the 'Kerala Kathakali Centre' to see a Kathakali which some fellow travelers had said was a must see while in Cochin and I have to say it was one of the funnest things I've seen in India. Essentially Kathakali is a dance form of story-telling that re-enacts Hindu epics. We started by watching the characters spend upwards of an hour apply their elaborate makeup, follwed by a brief introduction to what Kathakali is and then a demonstrations of some of the standard actions...'mother take care of your baby' being by far the most interesting. Finally a one hour performance of part of a story, about Lord Shiva testing a warrior, was performed. Apparently there are 112 stories in all and each one is 8-9hrs in length; the first 30mins or so of what we saw was very interesting and engaging but I started to drift after that, and I can't imagine watching it for 8-9hrs...very convoluted after a while.

Photos: Kathakali

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