Kathakali a stylized dance-drama?  Is it a pantomime? Can it be called a classical ballet?  One of the world's top-ranking poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was instantly impressed by the aesthetic range and the narrative techniques of Kathakali when Kalamandalam presented a programme in Santiniketan.  Kathakali was born only in the 17th century.  But in less than four centuries it grew up to represent India's cultural heritage to the world outside.  An eclectic art Kathakali evolved its classicism receiving inspiration from most of its predecessors viz Koodiyattam, Krishnanattam, Theyyam, Martial arts, Padayani, Mudiyett and similar traditions.

Kathakali plays are composed from the great Indian Epics, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Bhagavatha.  The play synchronizes on stage Nritta (pure dance), Nritya (Expressional Dance), Natya (Histrionics), Geeta (Vocal Music) and Vadya (Percussion Ensemble).  Kathakali characters communicate through the language of hand-gestures (over six hundred gestures are in use), body movements and facial expressions.  The text of the play is sung by the principal and supporting vocalists.  The dancers translate the songs into appropriate gestures, movements and expressions.  Chenda and Maddalam are the two major percussion instruments used in Kathakali.  They provide audio effect to the performance by tracing the character behaviour.  A curtain (Thiraseela) is held on stage by two persons just before the entry and exit of all the main characters.  This is a traditional theatrical device to transcend time and space.

Kathakali makeup and costuming is intricate, elaborate and colourful.  It takes at least three hours for an actor to transform into a full-fledged character with facial makeup, headgear, ornaments and colourful costumes.  Kathakali characters are broadly divided into noble, wicked and grotesque.  Their makeup and costumes differ from one-another.  Love, Separation, virtue vs vice, comic-relief, emotional struggles, gruesome-war and murder are common scenes in the  Kathakali plays.  More than the themes, the stylistics of individual performers is the abiding passion of Kathakali fans.

Kalamandalam gives intensive training to young aspirants in Kathakali.  Body-massage is a must for Kathakali students.  Teachers will massage the students from head to foot in the small hours of the morning during monsoon - June to August.  After applying oil throughout the body the students have to take a set of exercises.  There are also post-massage exercises.  Massage makes the body of the student supple and allows him a lot of flexibility in all his movements on stage.  Body-massage is a treatment involving strain and pain.  Kathakali perhaps adapted this training-technique from Kalaripayattu (Martial arts).  In Kalamandalam, Kathakali students are trained in such a way as to master the techniques first.  They are later led to character-analysis and emotional identification.