ISEAA invited Mr Kalamandalam Biju and Mr Neewin Hershall of Bhaskar’s Arts Academy to be facilitators of a workshop on two Indian theatre forms, namely, Kathakali and Kalaripayattu. The two-hour programme was part of a course module called ‘Southeast Asian Performing Arts’ which was attended by Year 3 students from the School of Theatre.
Students were introduced to Kathakali, an important genre in the Indian classical dance form, and learned the basic steps, hand gestures, eye movements, and exercises. This was followed by a demonstration of Kalaripayattu (kalari meaning training ground and payattu meaning combat) which centred around animal asanas and leg movements.
The session concluded with a 10-minute Q&A between the facilitators and student participants.
