Nangiarkoothu, The world’s oldest female solo | Giovanna Summo

Saturday 28 September 2024 | Teatro del Lido di Ostia, Via delle Sirene 22, Ostia (Roma)

Nangiarkoothu is the female solo in Kutiyattam. It is an ancient and ritualistic solo, a rarity in Asian theatres, as female characters are played by women instead of men. Furthermore, in nangiarkoothu, the performer can also play male characters thanks to the ‘change of roles’. In Nangiarkoothu, the face, hands and especially the eyes express emotions and feelings through movement and imagination, creating a perfect form of dance-theatre with vocal expression of short poetic verses in Sanskrit.

In this piece, Nangiarkoothu Purappadu, the performer after introducing herself as a character, performs a series of dances and songs in honour of the deities in front of a lamp, always lit on the proscenium and representing the Trimurti; Brahma, Visnu, Shiva. The costume represents the figure of the Mother Goddess, who with her wisdom interprets and instructs men in telling them the deeds of the characters of Indian tradition. In 2001, Kutiyattam, with its female solo Nangiarkothu, was recognised by Unesco as an Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Performance: Giovanna Summo

Choreography: Purappadu editing, Kalamandalam Sindhu

Music: Mizhavu, kalamandalam Sajith Vijayan, Kalamandalam Aravind

Thalam, kalamandalamVijitha M.P., Kalamandalam Jayalakshmi

Edayka, Nikhil Balakrishnan