Visiting Kerala Kalamandalam

Woke up at 4:00AM and walked about 1.5km from the government guest house to the Kalamandalam campus at Vallatholnagar, on a wet empty highway.I was accompanying Dr. Richmond (a family friend) who was a student of Koodiyattam there in 1967. Kalamandalam is a residential. gurukula style school for performing arts of Kerala, founded by the poet Vallathol in 1930. If you can imagine a gurukula founded by a radicle poet, on a piece of land he owned by the river, to preserve and propagate local performing arts without institutionalizing them, then that is Kalamandalam. Incidentally Vallathol happens to be a good friend of my maternal great grandfather, who used to help him with his English translations. Interestingly my mom remembers Vallathol as the frail deaf old man, with whom everyone conversed using Kathakali mudras (gestures)!

The campus is a beehive of activity at 4AM. The various kalaris (small roofed open structures that are classrooms) are in full swing. The asans (respected teachers) are some of the leading performing artists of Kerala in their respective fields. All aspects of performing arts like Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Mohiniattam, Bharathnatyam etc are taught here...ie., the dance, singing, instrumental and makeup are taught. Those who know me can imagine the grin on my face as I write, only percussive instruments are taught...:) The morning air is rent with stattacco beats of the Chenda, Maddhalam, Thimila and the Mizhavu.

Barathnatyam and Mohiniyattam kalaris are the most populated (and have the hottest chicks!), and are going through their morning exercises. The various levels of drumming kalaris are in full swing with the drummers sweating it out. he most interesting this early in the morning are the Kathakali and Koodiyattam kalaris. They are going through their 'Uzhichal' (massage) and 'Netrabhinayas' (eye exercises). The boys are all dressed in loin clothes and dunked in oil. Then in pairs, the teachers and senior students massage everyone for a couple of hours...with their feet! Basically the boys are spread out against a wall in wierd, impossible angles, while the masseuses hold a few hanging ropes and walk all over them. The Koodiyattam boys have some sort of oil poured in their eyes (which make them blood red), and are being taught to write alphabets with their eyeballs! I saw one of the teachers do this move in which his left eyeball was stationary, while his right eyeball moved horizontally...

The daily schedule for the dancers goes something like this...

• 4AM - 6AM - Massage/Exercises
• 6AM - 8AM - Eye exercises/Facial expressions
• 8AM - 10AM - Shower/Breakfast
• 10AM - 1PM - Regular dance classes
• 1PM - 3PM - Lunch break
• 3PM - 6PM - Regular school teaching English, Malayalam, Sanskrit etc
• 6PM - 8PM - Regular dance classes
• 8:30Pm - Dinner

For the drummers, they just bang drums all day long, sometimes accompanying dance classes, and sometimes working on their solos. The Chutti kalari (Makeup) had hundreds of clay pots to which the students were applying makeup. There is also a big Koothambalam (Performance space), which is designed exactly like the one at Wadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur.

Some information is available at http://www.kalamandalam.org/home.asp