Category Archives: Dance

India is home to a number of classical dance and drama forms: usually enacting stories from Hindu mythology, and each conforming to an ancient Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. Each has its own distinctive regional roots. In Kerala, Kathakali takes its place as a nationally recognised art form, known for its elaborate makeup, stylised […]

View full post »

It was hot. And dark. And chaotically noisy. And, I loved every minute of it! To a non-Indian, a Kathakali dance performance can best be described as a Punch and Judy show on steroids. One of India’s many forms of regional classical dance, Kathakali is unique to Kerala on India’s southwestern Malabar Coast. After spending a […]

View full post »

I woke up with my fingers crossed. All night long the rain had thundered on my roof. I live a short distance from Pambula, and I could only hope that the Ephemeral Festival there that day, on the Panboola Wetlands, would go ahead. It wouldn’t be the first time the whole site had been flooded […]

View full post »

In communities without a written language, culture is passed down through the oral traditions of art, story-telling, music, and dance. Even architecture and weaponry can signify meaning. In Papua New Guinea, there are more than more than 850 discrete spoken languages, and until recently, none of them were written down. Even today, adult literacy sits […]

View full post »

Balinese dance is an integral part of life on this tiny Indonesian island. Bali has a richness of unique culture that is immediately apparent to its many tourist-visitors. The productiveness of its lush, terraced rice fields and its relatively equitable division of food and labour have allowed the people time to develop and expand their […]

View full post »