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Venkat Parthasarathy

201401180

Presentational Movement

Koodiyattam Analysis

Koodiyattam is a theatric dance form tracing its origins to the state of Kerala. It can be

classified as both a dance of love and war as a theatre dance form should encompass allemotions. It is the oldest dance form of Kerala. Two elements will be discussed in this essay:

what are the elements that distinguish Koodiyattam from other classical dance foms and why

Koodiyattam has become a dying art. First, a short introduction to Koodiyattam is presented.

An important factor that needs to be known before going further is that Koodiyattam is a very

old Sanskrit theatric dance form. As dancers may be required to perform hours and hours on

just two verses in Sanskrit, a strong grasp of Sanskrit must be needed to perform

Koodiyattam and to understand Koodiyattam as well. Another factor is that Koodiyattam was

restricted to the general masses and only available to the highest factions of the society

making it a very niche dance form. For this reason, Koodiyattam is very artistic and one needsto be an active viewer and have a deep appreciation of art to enjoy Koodiyattam as it is not

necessarily tailored towards the average viewer. Koodiytattam also lacks the flair of

Bharatanatyam or Kathak and attempts to conduct a proper theatric experience rather than

impress the audience. This is also implied through the heavy attire, which makes it hard to

move fluently, and costume that Koodiyattam entails. But, what it lacks in flair is made up in

having deep expressions through eyes and hand gestures, in which each movement or gesture

actually has a very specific meaning. For example, folding your hands and pointing them

towards each other means once upon a time. However, this also implies that the audience

must be knowledgable to some extent regarding these gestures to understand them. Also,Koodiyattam is so meticulous in its detailing that Koodiyattam performances can take upto

forty days to complete making it a very time consuming hobby to both practice and view.

There are four classes of performers in Koodiyattam. This is in accordance with the

accomplishment of four elements namely Natyam (Acting and usage of face expressions),

Nritham (Dance), Geetham (songs) and Vadyam. (music) The Nangiars or the story tellers beat

the cymbals and recite the verses in Sanskrit. The Nangiar controls the performance through

his storytelling. Then there are the musicians who play themizhavu, a big jar made of either

clay or copper. This plays an important role as it enhances the effect of the particular scene

that is now being enacted. Then, there are the actual dancers who enact the play according tothe story tellers and the musicians. There also exists norms on which class of people performs

which part of the dance. The males of the Nambiar class are the musicians and the females

play the cymbals. (which accompanies the storytelling) This can also be the reason why

Koodiytattam attracted the top echelons of society because it is very organized and particular

in its requirements, elements which mark the difference between a tribal dance and a dance

tailored for the needs for the upper class.

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The most obvious quality that distinguishes Koodiyattam is its elaborate dressing. Coloring

plays a significant role in Koodiyattam's characterization. It is understood that the person(s)

whose face is painted green is recognized as the hero or the protagonist of the dance form.

The clown sports a gaudy make-up to distinguish him from the rest. The red color is usually

used to depict villains. The Nangiars are dressed distinctly from the rest. His face is usually

painted a neutral color like white and he usually does not wear any clothes for his upper body.

Koodiyattam is a very diverse dance form which includes all elements such as mixing songs,

having comedy scenes in between the main play. Koodiyattam also has a very religious

inclination and many Hindu epics or parts of them are regularly performed in Koodiyattam. For

this reason, it is usually performed in temples and it also has a special lamp in the center,

which signifies that whatever spirit has come to reside in Earth from an alternate world is

comforted inside the lamp.

The main reasons why Koodiyattam has become a dying art are the difficulty of an average

viewer to comprehend, and the enormous time investment required to master theperformance. This means that Koodiyattam requires more funding than other dance forms but

it attracts less number of audience due to a lack of people well versed in that dance form and

also the dfficulty to understand Koodiyattam (lack of knowledge about the hand gestures and

Sanskrit). Hence, Koodiyattam, mainly due to lack of funding has been deteriorating, and it is

upto us to revive one of the most rich dance forms of our country.