The South India Cultural Academy
OK, the actual name is Kerala Kalamandalam which translates as Kerala State Academy of Arts. It is apparently a national government sponsored academy for boys and girls 13 years and up (to 18 I believe) who compete for positions at the boarding school. It is supposed to teach (and thus help preserve) the traditional music and dance of southern India, especially (or perhaps exclusively) the state of Kerala. And we arrived in the middle of the National Dance & Music Festival 2012 but not during an actual performance (although some of us went back later that evening to see a performance).
The school consists of some dormitories (which we did not visit), some administration and display buildings, and a number of teaching buildings. The teaching buildings are concrete structures, each containing a single room, with open windows and an open entrance. During the wonderful "springtime" we were there, it was absolutely gorgeous weather and the rooms were quite pleasant. I can only imagine that it is not quite so pleasant in the heat of the Keralan summer or during monsoon season.
Each of the rooms is used for a particular subject/program and has a sign outside indicating that. And the open nature of the rooms allows you to walk around the campus and watch the various classes.
We saw drumming,
and dancing
among other activities. The students appear to all be quite dedicated and serious about their programs and are quite used to visitors. For example, while we were there, a class of younger students from some other school was touring -- probably to encourage some of these budding artists to apply to the school.
There is also a quite impressive performance space at the school (where the evening concert was given as well).
In the afternoon we visited a local "elephant" festival but in order to keep to my "promise" of no more than 7 pictures in a post, I'm dividing today into two parts.
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