The Tripunithura Kathakali Kendram Ladies Troupe was formed in 1975 breaking the 300 year tradition that only men performed Kathakali dance. The troupe was recognised with an award of the Nari Shakti Puraskar on International Women's Day in 2017.
The Tripunithura Kathakali Kendram Ladies Troupe was formed in 1975 breaking the 300 year tradition that only men performed Kathakali dance. The troupe was recognised with an award of the Nari Shakti Puraskar on International Women's Day in 2017.
Kathakali dance is a classic Indian dance form that was traditionally performed by men. [3] Dancers use masks to play different roles. For three hundred years it was performed only by male members of a particular high caste and it was not until the caste system was legally abolished in 1946 that others were able to train. After 1946, boys could enroll in academies, but the only route for girls was to seek out private tuition. [4]
The Tripunithura Kathakali Kendram Ladies Troupe was formed in 1975 at Tripunithura in Kerala. [5] It was not the first women's troupe as that had been formed in 1962 in Thrissur, Nadananiketan, but had lasted only until 1968. [6] The women involved in the troupe had considered learning other dance forms but they believed that Kathakali was the most developed. They could have appeared with male dancers as Chavara Parukutty Amma has done, but they feared the gossip and the advances of drunken men, so they preferred to form an all-woman troupe. [7] They were trained by leading exponents including Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair [5] who was one of the most renowned Kathakali artists, [8] and attracted attention from academics. One group studied them for eight months. [4]
Their "exceptional" example of "women empowerment" was recognised by the Indian government with the Nari Shakti Puraskar. [1] [2] On International Women's Day in 2017, a representative received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi. [1]
Kathakali is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colorful make-up, costumes and face masks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear. Kathakali is a Hindu performance art in the Malayalam-speaking southwestern region of Kerala.
Kalamandalam Krishnan Nair was one of the most renowned Kathakali artists of any time, and arguably the greatest in the history of the four-century-old classical dance-drama from Kerala in southern India. He had fleshy, flexible and clean-cut facial features that were powerful to launch any emotion with amazing power and ease, and was intelligent enough to acquire and exhibit varied styles of Kathakali that were in vogue across Kerala during his lifetime.
Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. The awards are presented by the President of India on International Women's Day, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The awards were instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar and were renamed and reorganised in 2015. There are given in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of rupees two-lakh and one-lakh, respectively.
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Smriti Morarka is an Indian social activist reviving handwoven cloth and improving mental health. In 2019 she was awarded the "Woman Power Award" Nari Shakti Puraskar by the President of India on International Women's Day in recognition of the example she has made.
Seema Kaushik Mehta is an Indian Kathak expert and designer of jewellery. She received the Nari Shakti Puraskar award for her dancing advocacy in 2019 after working with under-privileged children in Mumbai.
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