The Kathakali Complex (Actor, Performance and Structure) (An Old and Rare Book) - Kathakali dance-drama is one of the most widely known forms of Indian perform- ance shaped by the legacy of the classical tradition. The Kathakali Complex is a multi-faceted study of this dance-drama from India's southwest coastal state, Kerala. The volume assumes that Kathakali exists, not as a static tradition- bound museum piece, but rather as a dynamic form of cultural performance. Kathakali, like other forms of cultural performance, exists in the interstices and interplay between its received traditions and the vicissitudes of the modern world which combine to produce change in all aspects of the performance form, from techniques and training to patronage and organizational structure.
 
The volume examines Kathaka]i as a "complex," i.e., an intricate set of relationships between and among its specific parts: techniques, aesthetic principles, structure, socio-cul- tural environment, etc. The Kathakali Complex attempts to provide a basic his- tory and description of the techniques, training, and performance parameters of the form; an appreciation of the genre and its received aesthetic principles; and an analysis of both the deep structure of the form and of the dynamic set of forces within which the form exists.