Mohiniyattam In Its Present Form
Mohiniyattam is also called
the dance of the Enchantress, because it emphasises the seductive and
graceful aspects of women. It is a solo female dance in which the striking
feature is the rhythmical swaying of the dancer from side to side and the
smooth and unbroken flow of body movement. The dance is focused essentially
on feminine moods and emotions.
Mohiniyattam commences with the opening dance called
'Cholkettu'.
The danseuse stands with the feet and legs apart, knees bent and spread out and
hands raised over the head ( in 'anjali' - a type of Mudra) in salutation. She begins at average tempo,
but gradually gains speed with the passage of pure dance sequence leading to the
climax. 
The climax contains interchanging expression and pure dance sequence,
to the accompaniment of vocal and instrumental music. It presents a
perfect combination of abhinaya, nritta and nritya to evoke rasa or flavour. The
musician sings the poem narrating the theme of divine love and the danseuse
interprets it with her skilled footwork, movements of the hands and
expressional face and eyes. It is a dance style specially marked for its
grace, fluidity, simple footwork and rotating rhythmic movements. It is also characterized by a graceful and easy rise and fall of the
torso without breaking the vertical line of the body. The dancer has to coalesce
one movement with the other so that there is no sense of jerk and everything continues
smoothly and softly to the accompaniment of cymbals, veena,
madala, chenda
and obviously the vocal music of the conductors as nattuvanar.
