Mohiniyattam

Mohiniyattam is the classical dance form of Kerala, performed by women. Literarily, Mohiniyattam means the dance of enchantress. The slow, soft and graceful movements, expressions, the traditional costumes etc. of this classical dance, really enchants the spectators.

Mohiniyattam has the influences and elements from other dance forms like koothu, koodiyattam, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali etc.

In Mohiniyattam, more importance is given for gestural and facial expressions. The hand gestures used are almost same as in Kathakali.

The costumes used by Mohiniyattam artists are cream or off-white colour sari with golden borders, Gold ornaments and a traditonal hairstyle includes white colour floweres.

The song of mohiniyattam are based on carnatic music and the language used is Manipravalam (a mix of Malayalam and Sanskrit). Instruments used are veena, flute, maddalam, edakka etc.

Watch the video of famous Malayalam film actress Divya unni's Mohiniyattam performance.....

Kathakali

Kathakali is an Indian classical dance-drama, originated in Kerala. Kathakali is one of the most famous performing arts of India and has popularity all over the world.

Kathakali originated from Ramanattam and Krishnanattam(Classical arts of Kerala) in 17th century and several folk, ritual and classical arts forms of Kerala have exerted influence in the development of Kathakali.

The speciality of Kathakali is, the Kathakali actor enacts different characters in Kathakali using stylised hand gusters, facial expressions and body movements accompanied with vocal and instrumental music. The make-up and elaborate costumes of Kathakali are unique and marvellous.

Traditional Kathakali stories are from the Hindu epics, Mahabharatham and Ramayanam. Recently stories from other cultures like story of Mary Magdalene from Bible, Homer's The Iliad and Shakespeare's King Lear have also been adapted into Kathakali scripts. Kathakali stories are written to play a whole night. But nowadays 2-4 hour lasting shorten versions are more popular.
Characters in Kathakali are categorized according to their nature. This decides the colours used in the make-up of the artist.

To attain the high flexibility and muscle control required for this art form, a Kathakali dancer undergoes a special course of training and special types of body massage.

Language used in Kathakali music is a mix of Sanskrit and Malayalam called Manipravalam. The Kathakali songs are composed in Carnatic Music. Percussion Instruments like Chenda, chengala, Idakka, Maddalam and ilathalam are used in Kathakali.

Kathakali is usually performed in front of Kalivilakku(lamp) and the traditional Thiraseela(curtain) is used during Kathakali play.

The pictures shown above are the "Vesham"s of one of my friends Mr. Muralidharan M.N(Kathakali artist) , P.S.V Natya sangham, Kottakkal, Kerala.

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