**Dance forms of kerala**

**Dance forms of kerala**

Kerala is a beautiful state in the South-western corner of India. This divine land stretches from the gigantic Western Ghats to the Arabian Sea with its luscious tropical forests, paddy fields and evergreen coconut grooves. The everflowing rivers with its tributaries, the backwaters and lagoons are indeed a sight of this 'God's Own Country'. Kerala, rich in spices is also a land of colourful avenue of rich culture, heritage and people. Kerala offers a number of classical dance forms, most popular among them is Kathakali.The common root of all classical dance forms can be traced to Natyasastra, ascribed to Sage Bharata who is believed to have lived between the 1st and 2nd Century AD. All dance forms in Kerala (India) are based on the instructions in the Natyasastra. It also contains deliberations on the different kind of postures, the mudras or hand formations and their meanings, the kind of emotions and their categorisation, not to mention the kind of attire, the stage, the ornaments and even the audience. All dance forms are thus structured around the nine rasas or emotions, sringara(love), roudra(heroic), hasya (humorous), bhibasta, bhayanak (fear), viram (courage), karuna (compassion), adbhuta (wonder) and shanta (peace). All dance forms follow the same hand gestures or hasta mudras for each of these rasas.



Kathakali is one of the oldest dance forms in the world.Kathakali is a group presentation, in which dancers take various roles in performances traditionally based on themes from Hindu mythology, especially the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. One of the most interesting aspects of Kathakali is its elaborate make-up code. Characters are categorized according to their nature. This determines the colours used in the make-up. The faces of noble male characters, such as virtuous kings, the divine hero Rama, etc., are predominantly green. Characters of high birth who have an evil streak, such as the demon king Ravana, are allotted a similar green make-up, slashed with red marks on the cheeks. Extremely angry or excessively evil characters wear red make-up and a flowing red beard. Forest dwellers such as hunters are represented with a predominantly black make-up base. Women have yellowish faces. In Kathakali most of the time men wll do both male and female characters.

The technique of Kathakali includes a highly developed language of gesture, through which the artist can convey whole sentences and stories. The body movements and footwork are very rigourous. To attain the high degree of flexibility and muscle control required for this art, a Kathakali dancer undergoes a strenuous course of training, and special periods of body massage. The dancers wear huge skirt and large head dresses.

The orchestra of a Kathakali performance includes two drums known as the chenda and the maddalam, along with cymbals and another percussion instrument, the ela taalam. Normally, two singers provide the vocal accompaniment.Kathakali songs are usually written in Sanskrit.

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