Om Periyaswamy dance troupe - Karakāṭṭam dance with ladders and karana poses as two other dancers balance pots, Madurai (India), 1984

Item Overview

Title

Om Periyaswamy dance troupe - Karakāṭṭam dance with ladders and karana poses as two other dancers balance pots, Madurai (India), 1984

Alternative title

Event 24: Om Periyaswamy & Nāiyāndī Mēḷam - Madurai

Creator

Jairazbhoy, Nazir Ali, 1927-2009
Catlin-Jairazbhoy, Amy

Photographer

Catlin-Jairazbhoy, Amy

Date Created

March 14, 1984

Date

1984-03-14

Collection

Bake/Jairazbhoy Digital Archive of South Asian Traditional Music and Arts

Notes

Description

Karakāṭṭam dance, an acrobatic dance performed with pots balanced on the head, and karana poses on ladders, in praise of the rain goddess Mariamman. A dancing woman holds a karana pose while kneeling against the top step of an open ladder, held at both bases by two men. She balances a bowl of pink roses, topped by a flying parrot, on her head, while leaning against the ladder on her bent right leg, and holding the toes of her bent left leg behind her left shoulder, while looking toward the viewer. An elaborate curving necklace rests on her chest. Her right arm is bent across her body, with her wrist flexed downwards. She is wearing a silk classical dance costume with a pleated front skirt, legs wrapped, a choli blouse, and ghunghru ankle bells. This type of acrobatic dance pose (karana) was done by devadāsī temple dancers in the past. Two dancers, a woman and a man, lean forward on their right legs while balancing five decorated clay pots stacked on their heads, with a parrot atop their pots. Their arms are bent and stretched upwards, downwards, and sideways. At the TamilNadu Hotel.

Related Records

Bake Restudy Notes for the 1984 Bake Restudy Excursion in India
Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy Field Diary, India, 1984
Data Sheets for the 1984 Bake Restudy Excursion in India

References

Ref: Ethnomusicology Archive, UCLA (coll. 198609_NA84): Bake Restudy Notes, p. 28, Jairazbhoy Diary, p. 61, Data Sheets, p. 119-131

Physical Description

Extent

1 slide

Medium

35 mm slide

Keywords

Genre

slides (photographs)

Names

Hotel TamilNadu (Madurai, India)

Location

Madurai (Tamil Nadu, India)

Resource type

still image

Subjects

Karakāṭṭam (Dance)--India--Madurai
Folk dancing--India--Madurai
Dancers--India--Madurai