Thiruvathirakkali

Thiruvathirakkali or Kaikottikkali is a popular dance form of the women folk of Kerala. In this, eight to ten girls perform forming a circle by themselves. They sing and dance to the rhythm of clapping hands. Well-versed padams of Kathakali and Mohiniyatttam come alive in Thiruvathirakkali with a folk accent. The music and movements of Thiruvathirakkali has a native simplicity and lyrical grace. This graceful systematic group dance is performed on festivals like Onam and Thiruvathira.

Legend says that Parvati performed severe mortificatory penance to win Shiva as her husband. Very much pleased with her penance, Shiva appeared before her and promises to take her as his wife. This promise was made on the day of Thiruvathira star of the month of Dhanu. Therefore on this day, married and unmarried woman perform dance as a ritual. The married, for the well being of their husband and the unmarried, for acquiring a good husband. Also known as Kaikottikkali, this dance has a semi-religious significance, it's a kind of ritual performed to ensure happy and harmonious marital life.

On the day of Thiruvathira, the women folk takes an early bath and gets dressed in their traditional attire. They take noyambu (fast) on that day by having only non-rice food. In the evening they perform the dance and adorn their hair with Pathirapoovu.

Essentially a Kerala dance, hence the danseuse wear the typical dress of Kerala (Mundu and Veshti) with their hair bedecked with jasmine flowers. The dominant sentiment of this rustic dance is unalloyed joy. The footwork and movements of this form have grown naturally from the grace, simplicity, dignity, boldness, sense of beauty and such other qualities that are abundant in the woman of Kerala. This dance form has an amazing lasya charm redolent of devotion and erotic sentiment. Moving in circle, clock wise and anti clock wise, the dancers bend side ways also for clapping together in beautiful gestures. The songs of the dance have sprung up from the everyday life of rustic generation, particularly from the simple amusement of women folk. For this reason, their tunes and rhythm are closely associated with the social life and natural beauty of Kerala. Some other forms are also prevalent of this folk dance known as kolattam and Kummi.

Kerala Kalamandalam is one of the institution which imparts training in Kaikottikkali in order to preserve the rare traits of a village dance despite its narrow range. Amidst the sophisticated classical dances, Kaikottikkali strives to save its identity.