Koodiyattam dancer casts a spell

Such was her involvement in the intricacy of the art form that Venu scarcely seemed to blink her eyes as she amazingly used them to convey all these emotions. Her accompanists playing the music were equally skilful. These included Kalamandalam Rajiv and Kalamandalam Hariharan playing mizhav and Kalamandalam Unnikrishan playing the idakka. Mizhav are large earthen pots covered with animal skin,while idakka looks like the north Indian dhol,but has a more subtle sound.

The dance performance,Koodiyattam,has been recognised by UNESCO as a ‘Human Heritage Art’. It is considered to be about 2,000 years old — the oldest existing classical theatre form in the entire world,having originated much before Kathakali and most other theatrical forms.

Watching Venu effortlessly playing out the ‘samudra manthan’ with various characters was a spiritual high. Talking about the dance later,Venu said: “The entire attempt is to reach another state of existence,and take the audience to that level too.” Venu,who started her training in classical dance when she was seven years old,comes from a family of skilled classical artistes. The performance was organised by the Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPICMACAY) in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.