Those Tamil street dances
Subashini Pathmanathan
Therukoothu was practised by the ancient Tamils mainly for
entertainment purposes. In simple words Therukoothu comprises dance,
drama, music and dialogue.
As many other traditional dance forms, males are the main members of
this street play. Even the female role was played by the males. Theru
means street, koothu means folk dance. Hence Therukoothu means street
dance. Numerous street dance dramas were known as Therukoothu. These
plays were based on Puranic or Ithikasa themes (epics). Therukoothu is
often regarded as one of the oldest open-air dance dramas in Tamil
cultural tradition. During the early days this particular dance was
practised by the common masses for the mental relaxation or just to pass
off the time. The theme of the stories were imparted to some basic
truths or to some basic philosophy.
Labour community
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A
Therukoothu performance |
Aesthetic essence, value and religious affiliations are interwoven or
bound together in this particular oldest dance drama. Originally, this
particular dance form originated among the farmers community and later
it was passed on to the labourer community and to the ordinary masses.
Even this art form was quite popular among the common masses in some
remote villages. Like all other traditional art forms this ancient art
form also started with the religious performances.
Some of the historical evidence proved that this particular variety
of dance drama originated specially during the period of the 10th
century A.D. In those days each temple was attached to one theatre or
another. Special performances took place during the special temple
festivals.
Each temple had a theatre or a stage for this performance. During the
regime of Raja Raja Chola-1, numerous Raja Raja Nadakams (drama based
dances) were composed during that time. Those dramas were based on Raja
Raja’s victory over the other lands including the neighbouring countries
and about the Thanjai Bragatheeswarar temple which was built by the
great Emperor. Even some of the dance dramas themes revealed the
endowment given to the artistes and actors by the state during the Raja
Raja Chola’s period.
High pitch
Even now the folk dance dramas of the Tamils are generally referred
to as Therukoothu. The Instruments mainly used for Therukoothu were
harmonium, Mirdangam and flute. The songs were sung in a very high
pitch. The labour class was the main actors and audience for
Therukoothu. The labourers after their day long hard work and for their
mental relaxation, they involved in the Therukoothu dance drama.
Normally this tradional folk dance drama started around at 10 P.M. It
continued till the early hours of the following day. In earlier days it
was believed that this particular dance drama was introduced in the
society mainly to invoke rain to the village. Normally Therukoothu was
held somewhere else in the village or in front of the village temple
within the temple premises. The villagers bore the total cost of the
Therukoothu dance drama .Some of the most popular Therukoothu dance
dramas were Madurai Veeran, Kathavarayan, Ramayanam, Harischandran,
Nallathangal, Valli Thirumanam, Pavalakkodi and Arjunan penance.
It is generally said that the Therukoothu was one of the main sources
for the development of Tamil classical dance form in the Tamil culture.
Due to the arrival of cinema and modern electronic mass media this
particular art form lost its vitality in the modern metropolitan
areas.Yet it is popular among the rural masses. |