kalamandalam-krishnakumar-completes-50-years-in-kathakali

We have all been in awe of the kathakali dance performances. The dance form is known as that of the gods and demons which depicts stories from the epics.

 

The dance entirely consists ofts facial expressions and hand movemen. The make-up and costumes are elaborate, colourful and striking which keep one hooked to the performances.

 

A known Kathakali artiste Kalamandalam Krishnakumar completes 50 years in association with the dance form this year. He started his career with Kalakshetra in Chennai as a teacher.

 

He was a part-time Bharatanatyam dancer. This exposure came in handy when Krishnakumar next got posted at his alma mater in Cheruthuruthy, not far from his native village in central Kerala.

 

 

Kalamandalam, who has performed all the major hero and anti-hero characters, but he did not prefer playing the villainous roles.

 

He taught Kathakali till he retired in 2018, but he found Bharatanatyam footwork and movements suited better the characters he portrayed on stage.

 

During his evolution journey, he has constantly reinvented himself and his art. He moved from the folksy Ayyappanpattu to Kathakali and from the southern school of Kathakali to the northern.

 

Krishnakumar is the first full-fledged Kathakali artiste in his family.

 

“As a teenager, he had no clue about the stylistic differences between the two schools of the dance form.

 

Influential guru Ramankutty Nair accepted Krishnakumar’s request and sent him to Padmanabhan Nair to learn the northern (Kalluvazhi) methodology.

 

Krishnakumar also trained under Vazhenkada Vijayan and Kalamandalam Gopi. The training lasted for almost a decade, after which he realised a dearth of opportunities to perform.

 

Krishnakumar came to know about the vacancy for a Kathakali tutor in Kalakshetra. He applied and landed the job only to realise that Bharatanatyam was the institution’s mainstay. So he gained know-how about the dance form’s repertoire.

 

At this point of time, Krishnakumar’s batch-mate Kalamandalam Vijayakumar and make-up artiste Barbara of Manchester invited him to perform at events at their institute in the UK. This meant taking long breaks from teaching. Eventually, he quit his job in Kalakshetra and went back to Kerala.

 

In 1990, Kalamandalam appointed Krishnakumar to its Kathakali department, which he later went on to head, by when the institution had become a deemed university.

 

The three decades that Krishnakumar spent there, he had a huge number of disciples and performances across the state and outside the country.

 

Over the years, Krishnakumar has realised the art form should adapt to contemporary sensibilities.