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Apsaras
are an embodiment of the ideal female beauty in Cambodian culture. Both
modern and ancient Khmer artists rendered them elaborately and with great
emotional intensity. We find the most charming and flirtatious apsaras
at the early 13th-century temple of Ta Som. One of them confidently shows
off her ornate right earring. while another two dancers are depicted equally
sensuously and self-absorbed; one holding lotus flowers in her hands, and
the other is caught in the act of squeezing water from her long hair.
("Depictions of Dance and Drama on Ancient Cambodian Temples" - Boreth Ly) |
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Sankaradeva who developed Sattriya dance to propagate the Bhakti movement, was a poet, philosopher, theoretician, musician, dramatist, actor, producer, dance choreographer and painter. He was a much-traveled social reformer and founder of the neo-Vaishnavite faith. He founded Sattras for the practice of devotion through art and dance. |
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The female members of a Nambiar family are called Nangiars. Their chief duties are performing Nangiar Koothu, playing female roles in Kudiyattam along with the Chakyars (the traditional actors of Kerala), singing songs or reciting dialogues as accompaniment to the acting and playing the rhythm with Kuzhithalam or cymbals. |
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