Kerala Natanam is a new style of dancing evolved from Kathakali.The Indian dancer Guru Gopinath developed and stylised this dance by blending Indian dance Ccassicism and modernism. It is a popular dance upholding the universality of Indian hand gestures as language of communication, and abhinaya (acting). Kathakali (katha for story, kali for performance or play) is an expressive form of Indian dance-drama. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Guru Gopinath, the mentor of this dance, was a trained Kathakali artist. He tried to develop a new style without losing its charm and classicism. A major difference from Kathakali is the change in the costumes and music.

It accepts the amgika abhinaya - body movements and gestures -in toto from Kathakali and Natyashasthra. The elements of satvika abhinaya - facial expressions ans emotions - are fine-tuned to fit to the need of the modern theatre with electric lighting. The scope for stage movements doubled. Most of the industrialized world is lit by electric lights, which are used both at night and to provide additional light during the daytime. ...

There is a significance deviation in the aharya abhinaya (costumes and make up. Kerala natanam does not use a set dress code, but assumes a suitable dress for the character(s) presented. In a dance on Jesus Christ the dancer dress up like Christ. In social dances the artists wear the dress of labourers, peasants, folk etc. Likewise roles of Srikrishna, king, snake charmer hunter have suitable attire. This makes Kerala Natanam more communicative and accessible to viewers who have no knowledge about it.

While Kathakali follows the sopana style of music, Kerala Natanam shifted to pure karnatic music. But it allows any Indian or western musical instrument like violin, sitar, harmonium, flute sarang or tabla, while also popularising Kerala instruments like the chenda, mrudamgam, ilaththalam, itakka and others. The violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart. ... Premla Shahane playing a sitar, 1927 A sitar The sitar is a Hindustani classical music instrument. ... This article is on the musical instrument; for information on other kinds of harmonia, see harmonium (disambiguation). ... Overview The tabla is the most popular percussion instrument used in the classical and popular music of the northern regions of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, northern India, Pakistan). ...