Margi Vijayakumar is a
Kathakali
Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...
artist who has specialised in female roles in the classical dance-drama from
Kerala, south
India. A disciple of the late
Padma Shri Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair, he has gained name in his poised handling of
Purana characters like
Damayanti,
Panchali,
Mohini
Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a ''femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them t ...
and
Kunti
Kunti ( sa, कुन्ती, ), named at birth as Pritha ( sa, पृथा, ), is one of the prominent characters of the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. She is best known as the mother of the Pandavas and Karna, the main protagonists of the epi ...
, mostly opposite star dancer
Kalamandalam Gopi.
The 1960-born Vijayakumar, a native of
Thonnakkal in
Thiruvananthapuram district, was initially trained under Thonnakkal Peethambaran, Inchakkattu Ramachandran Pillai, and Mankulam Vishnu Namboodiri. Equally at ease with
choreographically dense roles and those that more profile the Kathakali character, many buffs consider Vijayakumar as a legitimate successor to septuagenarian
Kottakkal Sivaraman
Kottakkal Sivaraman (1936 – 19 July 2010) was a performing artiste who revolutionised the portrayal of female roles in Kathakali, the classical dance-drama from Kerala in southern India.
Career
Kathakali, being a largely masculine dance form w ...
. Vijayakumar lives in Kudavoor near Thiruvananthapuram.
References
Kathakali exponents
Living people
1960 births
Artists from Thiruvananthapuram
Indian male dancers
Dancers from Kerala
20th-century Indian dancers
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