Mohiniyattam – Classical Dance of Kerala

Mohiniyattam is a classical dance form which is believed to have originated in Kerala. Mohiniyattam is a fusion of Bharthanatyam with the dynamism and vigour of Kathakali. This dance performed solely by women was once only seen in Temples and Royal Courts.

The costume for the Mohiniyattam is a cream two-piece pleated saree with a wide golden border and traditional gold ornaments. The eyes are lined dramatically with Kohl to enhance the dancers expressions. The hair is tied in a bun placed at the back of the head and encircled by a string of fragrant Jasmine flowers. The musical accompaniments for Mohiniyattam are Violin, Veena, and Mridangam (drums).

Compared to other classical dance forms in South India, Mohininyattam gives more importance to gestural and facial acting.

One thought on “Mohiniyattam – Classical Dance of Kerala

  1. Pingback: Dance and Textiles – A Connection |

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s