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 Kerala
India Vacations offers you a unique opportunity to get a glimpse of the
vibrant Kerala culture. The Kathakali classical dance form is one of
the most important aspects of Kerala culture; in fact Kathakali
popularly represents Kerala, South India.
Kathakali is basically a form of stage dance drama that is
characteristic of Kerala classical art forms.
The origins of Kathakali that is one of the most popular dances of
Kerala, South India can be traced back to the 2nd century A.D. The
Kathakali dances are dramatized performances of mythological plays.
Originally there were about a 100 plays but nowadays artists choose
from amongst an array of 30 plays. The themes for these plays are based
on the stories from the Indian epics such as the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana, Puranas, and other religious scriptures. The moral of these
stories usually center on frailty and courage, righteousness and evil,
war and peace, prosperity and poverty, terrestrial and the cosmic.
While singers and narrators narrate the stories the
Kathakali performers depict the expressions of the characters in the
most skillful manner to the sound of traditional musical instruments.
Traditional Kathakali performances last all night, though
performers skillfully execute the traditional dramas in shorter time
periods for the interested.
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