'KOODIYATTAM IS MY LANGUAGE'

He left everyone in a trance of sorts that day...was it her deeply expressive eyes? Or, perhaps, her careful, deliberate movements, each one like a well-crafted piece of a larger puzzle, took us all to a different dimension.

- NITIKA KRISHNA

He left everyone in a trance of sorts that day...was it her deeply expressive eyes? Or, perhaps, her careful, deliberate movements, each one like a well-crafted piece of a larger puzzle, took us all to a different dimension. Because when Koodiyattam artiste Kapila Venu finished her performance, resounding applause filled the air at the 10th Annual International Convention of SPIC MACAY, held at IIT-H.

Delving into the performing arts was but natural for Kapila, who chose to tread the path of Koodiyattam in her early 20s. Born in Irinjalakuda, a town in Kerala's Thrissur district, she grew up watching her mother, Nirmala Panicker, an artiste and researcher of Mohiniyattam, and her father, Venu G, a Koodiyattam exponent and scholar.

For the uninitiated, Koodiyattam is a 2,000-year-old performing art form in Kerala. It is a combination of ancient Sanskrit theatre with elements of Koothu, an ancient performing art from the Sangam era.