Kerala Kathakali Centre (Kathakali Mandapam) - $6/person - Fort Cochin, Kerala, India
Kathakali is the traditional performing art of Kerala, and we knew we wanted to see a performance while in Fort Cochin. The show can drag on a bit long - you start at 5pm watching the makeup application for 1 hour, followed by a 1.5 hour show. If I did it again, I would skip the first half hour of makeup application and come for only the 2nd half of the tutorial, which was actually really interesting. And, if they were taking feedback on how to make the show better, I would definitely suggest shortening it to 1 hour. Still, we'd never seen anything like it, and found it all fascinating, especially since it's unlikely a group of Keralans are going to bust out in spontaneous traditional dance in front of us any time soon. The actors are clearly dedicated to their art, which is admirable in itself, but work very hard to put on an authentic show for their nearly entirely foreign audience. Learning about the different kinds of makeup used and about the tiny movements that depict various emotions was also really interesting. However, if they could cut the drum solos down, that wouldn't bother me either.
We give Kerala Kathakali Centre...4 Happy Travelers!
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