Mohiniattam

Kerala is famous for many things amongst them music, drumming and dance. The dances are often performed as part of temple festivals. We were very priveleged to be invited to a performance last night. Fortunately the dance did not last all night as they sometimes do ...Each dance tells a story and the story here is of Lord Shiva and the demon Bhasmasura ... who were in battle with each other. Lord Vishnu came to the rescue of Lord Shiva and realising that they could not overcome the demon by force he disguised himself as an enchantress to tempt and seduce the demon.. The demon could kill by touching anyone with his finger and during the dance having captivated the demon Lord Vishnu in his disguise pointed his finger to his own head. The demon under the spell of this 'enchantress' followed and did the same pointing to his own head and in so doing killed himself...

I guess there are lots of morals in that story!!! And please if you know the story differently to that please say and correct me. One of the outstanding skills of these dancers is their ability to express emotion with their faces their eyes and their body. Some are trained to be able to communicate one emotion with one eye and simultaneously another emotion with the other .. for example love and hate.. I can think of some situations where that would be handy!!

So I need to get much more practised at night time photography and in getting as much of the figures in the shot as I should.. This performance was also being filmed for promotional purposes ...

Mohinattam = dance of the enchantress - Mohini meaning beautiful woman and aattam meaning dance ... I tried the Mohini bit on the receptionist in the local resort and she giggled bashfully!!!