Today we will explore "THE DANCE OF ILLUSION - THEYYAM".
Theyyam is the TRIBAL DANCE of the MALABAR COAST.
Malabar Coast is the south western coast of Indian Sub-Continent and covers North Kerala and extends up until Karnataka!
The tribal community of Malabar Coast is called ODIYAN.
Odiyan is a highly skilled ILLUSIONIST.
Odiyan is a trained Martial Artist and they learn to mimick the attack positions of various animals. They use Martial Arts to protect themselves from the upper class community of Kerala.
They learn Martial Arts (Kalaripayattu) as a part of SURVIVAL STRATEGY.
Their typical survival strategy is that : "They trick the mind of the common man by creating a SENSORY ILLUSION making the common man believe that they can transform themselves and take the shape of Deer / Buffalo / Snakes".
"They never actually change forms but create a sensory illusion on their prey.
The sensory illusion is a survival strategy that was adopted by the Tribal community to protect themselves from the upper class".
The folk dance of Tribal Community is called THEYYAM ; this ritualistic dance takes place between December and April every year in all Muthappan Temples across the Malabar Coast.
The tribal community identify Sree Muthappan (Lord Shiva) as a Kula-Daivam.
The main Muthappan temple where the annual Theyyam festival is conducted is in Kannur District.
Theyyam is a feast for the eyes and is performed by HIGHLY SKILLED ILLUSIONIST.
The dancers are experts in creating SENSORY ILLUSION !
Photos from Kerala Tourism.
Do you think that they are dancing on FIRE ?
No they are not dancing on FIRE ; they are dancing on fire VIRTUALLY.
I mean they are creating a VISUAL ILLUSION in the mind of audience.
Lets understand VISUAL ILLUSION.
We believe that our eyes see the truthful images. But in reality our visual experience results from the Neural Network Process of our brain which makes clever ESTIMATES / PREDICTION of what we see.
A magician will toss the ball up in the air couple of times ; at some point he will keep the ball in his hand but the Neural Network of your brain will make you experience an ILLUSIONARY BALL being tossed up in the air (PREDICTION) even though the ball never leaves the magician's hands. THIS IS HOW VISUAL ILLUSION WORKS.
Skilled dancers prevent you from seeing their SECRET MOVES.
If you think that the dancer is JUMPING ON FIRE ; Then clearly the Neural Network Model of your brain is 98%. The 2% ERROR is what has contributed to ILLUSION.
What is that 2% ERROR ?
I will leave it as an OPEN ENDED QUESTION.
Similarly Skilled Illusionist will misdirect your attention preventing you from seeing their SECRET MOVES. They deliberately prevent you from seeing FULLY VISIBLE EVENTS.
A song from the movie ODIYAN that is based on the tribal community of Malabar Coast.
A few animal poses typically adopted by an odiyan can be witnessed in this song.
Theyyam is also a feast to EARS!
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