Kathakali

Kathakali:The Dancer
Acrylic colours on 40x40 cm canvas

Kathakali is one of the major forms of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colorful make-up, costumes and face masks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear. A Kathakali performance, like all classical dance arts of India, synthesizes music, vocal performers, choreography and hand and facial gestures together to express ideas. However, Kathakali differs in that it also incorporates movements from ancient Indian martial arts and athletic traditions of South India. It takes hours to get dressed and the face masks are very heavy. With them on, dancing for hours together requires a lot of strength and skill and devotion towards the art. The traditional themes of the Kathakali are folk mythologies, religious legends and spiritual ideas from the Hindu epics. In modern compositions, Indian Kathakali troupes have included women artists, as well as adapted Western stories and plays such as those by Shakespeare and from Christianity.

Sometimes I wonder, what emotions run behind that face mask and how does a dancer depict so much with just the eyes..