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“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection” MICHELANGELO

THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR

Kathakali

A scene from 'Othello'

Enacting the character of Krishna

KATHAKALI Kathakali is a highly stylized traditional dance- drama, with unique and colourful make-up/costumes. The characters are highly expressive and use well designed gestures and movements.

It holds a special place in the world of theatre arts. The word, Kathakali, literally means 'story-play’. But, this art-form is much more than that. It is a harmonic blending of various fine arts like poetry, music (vocal and instrumental), acting, dancing, pantomime, drawing, painting and sculpturing.

Kathakali originated in Kerala about 400 years ago, but its roots are far older. This was a temple art in earlier times. Today it has come out to the wider world of dance and theatre, and is performed nationally and internationally.

Kathakali plays (Attakkathas) are written in verse and the language is a mixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit, called Manipravalam.

These are set to appropriate south Indian Karnatic Music ragas and are sung in Sopana style, which is ideal for expressing emotions on the stage.

The percussion instruments used in Kathakali are Chenta, Maddalam, Edakka (different types of drums), Chengila (Gong) and Elathalam (Cymbal).

In Kathakali, the actors have to express the thoughts and emotions of the characters by means of Mudras (stylized hand gestures) and facial expressions. The unique, colourful costume and the make-up are according to the inner qualities of the characters, due to which the actors get entirely different looks.

Keli - a percussion ensemble prior to Kathakali performance

International Centre for

Kathakali The International Centre for Kathakali (ICK) was established in the National Capital of India, Delhi, with a mandate to promote and popularize Kathakali, the unique classical art-form of Kerala.

Performance organised by North Zone Cultural Centre at Chandigarh

The International Centre for Kathakali (ICK) was established in the National Capital of India, Delhi, with a mandate to promote and popularize Kathakali, the unique classical artform of Kerala. The centre was inaugurated by the First President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1960. ICK has an active presence in the cultural landscape of National Capital Region, for close to six decades, and by now it has become the most prominent institution of Kathakali training and performance, outside the state of Kerala.

ICK team at the 'Taj Concert'

Today, ICK is a recognized institution by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, and is empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), in the outstanding category. Premier agencies/institutions like Kendra Sangeet Natak Academy, Delhi Sahitya Kala Parishad, and Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) also recognize ICK as a major cultural organization. It is affiliated to Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh and is a member of the International Dance Council (CID) of UNESCO. The campus of ICK is located at the Qutab Institutional Area, a prominent and peaceful locality in South Delhi, adjacent to the lush green city forest, Sanjay Van and is not so far from Delhi’s world famous monument, Qutab Minar. It has a specially designed auditorium for staging Kathakali.

Female characters in Kathakali

ICK team in a cultural event at Rashtrapati Bhavan

ICK LEADERSHIP The founder Secretary of ICK was Mr. Sivasankara Menon and its first President was Sardar K M Panicker, a renowned parliamentarian and diplomat. The day-to-day functioning of the centre is governed by a Governing Council, consisting of eminent personalities and art lovers.

At Present, Mr. Babu Panicker is the President of ICK and Mrs. Anitha Kalesh is the Secretary General. The other office bearers of the Governing Council are Mrs. Asha Nair and Mr. Joy Konnayil (Vice Presidents), Mr. K.P. Hareendran Achari (Joint Secretary), Mr. Ravi Nair (Treasurer) and Mr. V.G. Remana Das (Advisor).

The Governing Council works under the overall advice of Guru Sadanam Balakrishnan.

THE GURUS World famous dance exponent, Guru Gopinath was the first Principal of ICK. After him, Guru Mampuzha Madhava Panicker took over as the Principal till 1971. During 1975-80, Guru Padmasree Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair, a renowned Kathakali maestro, was the Principal. The centre was headed by Guru Sadanam Balakrishnan, as Principal, in two tenures from 1974-75 and from 1980-2006.

Currently, Vadya Praveen Kalashri Cheruthazham Kunhiraman Marar and Guru Thiruvattar B. Jagadeesan are the Principal and Vice Principal of ICK, respectively.

Well trained teachers from renowned Kathakali institutions are in the faculty team of ICK. These artists-cum-teachers who are committed to meet highest academic standards, train their disciples in different disciplines such as Acting-Dancing (Vesham), Vocal, Percussion (Chenta, Maddalam, Edakka) and Chutti (make up) & Costumes. The current team of faculty members and support staff are: Vadya Praveen Kalashri Cheruthazham Kunhiraman Marar (Principal), Thiruvattar B. Jagadeesan (Vice Principal), Kalamandalam Anil Kumar (HoD), Parassinikkadavu Manoj (Senior Artist – Maddalam), Kottakkal Jayan (Senior Artist – Vocal Music), Kalamandalam Manikandan (Senior Artist – Vocal Music), Kalabharati Kalyana Krishnan (Senior Artist -Kathakali), Sadanam Vijesh (Maddalam Artist), Kalabharati Unnikrishnan (Chutti and Green Room Assistant), Kalanilayam Nitheesh (Chutti Artist), Kalamandalam Thampi (Chenta Artist), Sadanam Suresh (Kathakali Artist), G. Govindan and Satyanarayanan (Green Room Assistants).

REGULAR CLASSES For close to six decades, ICK has been conducting regular classes on Kathakali and related disciplines. The Centre has provided education and training of exceptional quality to thousands of students, from all over the world. The high standard of teaching and curriculum of ICK have received ample recognition, from the experts and practitioners of Kathakali. Currently, about 200 students are undergoing training in different fields of Kathakali Vesham, Vocal Music, Percussion Instruments, Chutti (make-up) and costumes.

The tuition fee charged by the centre is moderate, with an aim to promote Kathakali among a larger community of art-learners.

OCCASIONAL & SHORT TERM TRAINING PROGRAMMES The Centre also offers customized crash-course programmes (spanning 4 weeks to a few months) for institutions and individuals – as orientation programmes and quick learning programmes (especially for those who have already trained in other classical art forms or in theatre)

MONTHLY PROGRAMMES & KATHAKALI FESTIVALS The Centre regularly organizes monthly Kathakali programmes as well as a week-long annual Kathakali School Festival (usually in the month of November). The centre also organizes special performances of prominent Kathakali artists, during their visits to Delhi.

SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS ICK also organizes Lecture Demonstrations, Workshops, Seminars and Symposiums to create awareness and knowledge about the technical nuances of this highly stylized artform and other performing art-forms. Apart from in-house experts, eminent scholars, artists and academicians are also invited to present papers and to speak in these seminars and workshops. The Centre also offers lecture demonstrations and workshops for various institutions (schools/colleges, cultural organisations/centres and other interested institutions).

PERFORMANCES ICK has a dedicated troupe of exceptional artists, who are available to perform events on a very short notice. To date, ICK has participated in many Indian and International Festivals in more than 150 cities world over. In 1990s, ICK presented the Greek Tragedy, `Bacchae’ of Euripides at the ancient amphitheatre at Delphi in Greece and was adjudged as the best production in the European Theatre Festival. Every year, the centre conducts 80-100 performances in India and abroad. In all the major cultural events at the National Capital Region, ICK has an active presence.

CUSTOMIZED & SHORT-DURATION PROGRAMMES As per tradition, Kathakali is presented as a full-night performance (8 to 9 hours). Even now the performance of Kathakali requires about 2-3 hours (the artists have to undergo a long process of make-up and costume, for about 3-4 hours). However, depending upon the requirements of the clients (including embassies, ministries, departments, institutions and cultural organizations), ICK artists often perform for shorter durations – 20 minutes to 1 hour, in which effective productions are staged without losing its essence and spirit.

Such short-duration performances are found very effective in portraying Kathakali’s visual and artistic vibrancy to the audience.

After a performance at Embassy of Japan

A scene from 'Neelamaneeyam', which portrays Surpanakha's story from Ramayana, based on an incident of 'honour’ killing.

STORIES AND PRODUCTIONS Owing to the traditional, classical route, most of the stories in Kathakali are based on mythological stories from Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavata. Accordingly, there are traditional stories, which are readily available with ICK for staging.

Apart from these Indian epics, ICK has also produced and performed Biblical Stories, and stories from various foreign languages, including productions based on European, French and Nigerian Classics. The Shakespearean classic, 'Othello’ is a major production that ICK had staged several times at the centre as well as at many other institutions (including embassies, cultural centres and universities). It is to the credit of choreography and performance that many of these new productions have been well received and repeatedly performed on requests. 'Karna Sapatham’, one of the most popular Kathakalistories of contemporary times, was an experimental production carried out by ICK. Sometime ago, ICK had also performed a complete Kathakali in Hindi language, based on Ramdhari Singh Dinekar’s Mahakavyam, 'Rasmi Rathi’. Historical themes (e.g. Jhansi Rani, Pazhassi Raja and Chanakya Vijayam) were also occasionally staged.

Roudra Bheema from 'Duryodhana Vadham'

ICK is the first institution to stage Kathakali in Saudi Arabia (2018)

There are also productions around contemporary themes and socially relevant issues.

The most recent productions in this genre are 'Neelamaneeyam’ (which portrays Surpanakha’s story and entire Ramayana, emanating from an incident of `honour’ killing) and `Vishwa Shanti’ (which advocates for global disarmament and peace). Other similar productions include: Ayyappa Charitham (Hindu-Muslim friendship); Bhakta Nandanar and Bhakti Deepika (about caste system).

'Geetopadesham’ (based on Bhagavad Gita), is a popular brief production, which has been staged in many national and international events.

A scene from 'Vishwa Shanti', which advocates for global disarmament and peace

A scene from 'Nalacharitham - First Part'

THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR KATHAKALI C-20. QUTAB INSTITUTIONAL AREA, NEW DELHI - 110 016, INDIA www.kathakalicentre.in

SUPPORTED BY

AFFILIATED TO

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC, DANCE AND DRAMA

SAHITYA KALA PARISHAD GOVT. OF NCT, DELHI

THE INTERNATIONAL DANCE COUNCIL / UNESCO

PRACHEEN KALA KENDRA, CHANDIGARH

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