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Kalamandalam Devaki
Kalamandalam Devaki is an Indian exponent of the Ottan Thullal dance and song tradition. She was the first woman artist in this male-dominated field. She was awarded the Kalamandalam prize and the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award. Early life Devaki was born in Nelluvai, Thrissur district, Kerala. She came from an artistic family: her uncle Kalamandalam Gopalan Nair was a Kathakali performer and teacher, while her father Kadambur Damodaran Nair was an actor and bhagavatar in Kottakal. At an early age, she began instruction in dance at Lalitha Kalalayam in her village. At age twelve, she joined the Kerala Kalamandalam as its first woman student to learn Thullal in 1960. Her Arangetram (dance), ''arangettam'' was a performance of ''Paatracharitham'' in 1961. Her guru was Malabar Kannan Nair. Her training involved dance as well as Sanskrit, ''abhinaya'' and ''sahitya''. In particular, she concentrated on ''mudras'', which are not as explicit in Ottan Thullal as in Kathakali. Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottan Thullal
Ottan Thullal (or ''Ottamthullal'', Malayalam: ഓട്ടൻ തുള്ളൽ) is a recite-and-dance art-form of Kerala, India. It was introduced in the eighteenth century by Kunchan Nambiar, one of the Prachina Kavithrayam (three famous Malayalam-language poets). The folksy performance, often laced with humour intended at criticism of society, is accompanied by a mridangam (a barrel-shaped double-headed drum) and/or the handy idakka besides a pair of ilathalam cymbals. History Like most Indian performing art forms, Ottamthullal has its principles influenced by the Natya Shastra (). The word ''Thullal'' means "to jump" or "leap about" in the Malayalam language. Legend has it that Nambiar, the poet, fell asleep while playing the mizhavu drum for a Chakyar Koothu performance, inviting ridicule from the chakyar. In response, Nambiar developed Ottamthullal, which raised prevalent sociopolitical questions and made a satire of human pedigrees and prejudices. The chakyar c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
