KALAAPAM
 Kalaapam is a
character portrayal using dance and specially composed music. It narrates both the social
and psychological themes of an incident. The performer introduces the main character
through an introductory song and then continues with the theme. His role is aided by a
second character managing the descriptive and narrative parts, who acts as both the Sutradhara
(the narrator) and the vidhushaka (the criticiser/analyser) in the play.
Kalaapam is performed in two distinct
styles. The classical style is in the form of Bhama Kalaapam and Golla Kalaapam as
adopted and developed by the Kuchipudi dancers. The original folk style includes
the forms of Koranji vesham, Koorakula vesham, Panthulu panthani vesham, etc.
Of the two famous forms of this kalaapam,
Bhama Kalaapam has been given the status of the model of classical Abhinaya in
Kuchipudi. It depicts the various episodes of Bhagavatha with Satyabhama as the main role
and is generally performed to entertain the elitist audience. The other, Gollakalapam,
performed to entertain the rural people describes the origin of the world and the birth of
the human kind in the form of a conversation between a learned Brahmin and a Golla woman
(shepherdess) who sells milk. |
