Word: kathakali
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...these pages, among the peoples of Asia dancing is still an organic and important part of religion; each step and gesture, even a finger's tilt, may be loaded with metaphysical meaning. Costumes are designed according to ancient and elaborate convention: in a classic Indian dance drama called Kathakali, the makeup alone often takes from early morning until late in the afternoon. The music accompanying dancers in the East ranges from the Kathakali's ceaseless thunder of drums (the drummers work in relays) to the Burmese Zat Pwé orchestra of a dozen varied instruments-teakwood xylophones, ivory...
...visitors from India danced and acted, good always triumphed, and whoever got his comeuppance was lucky to be merely killed. In one Kathakali (story-play), a demigod suffered a fate worse than death (because he rejected a nymph's advances); he was transformed into a creature half man, half woman. In another dance-drama an unbelieving king was devoured by the god Vishnu, who relished every morsel-as red streamers representing the king's innards were clawed out of his corpse...
...India, productions of Kathakali cause audiences to curse the bad guys (red-bearded) and cheer the good guys (green-faced). Broadway audiences were less demonstrative but found that the blood-and-wonder spectacle had color, dash, the spice of novelty and the charm of skillfully stylized performances...
...York last week, besides Kathakali (about 1,000 years old in some forms and hence a Johnny-come-lately), the Rao troupe also danced the nearly 4,000-year-old Bharata Natyam (the Drama of Bharata). High point of the program: Mohirti Attam (the Dance of the Enchantress), in which Dancer Rao proved herself a virtuoso performer. This dance had become so corrupted and eroticized by courtesans that it had been banned from the temples. Shanta, swathed in dazzling silk, danced it in its uncorrupted style, although her weaving, swaying interpretation was still sexy in a highly stylized...
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