According to the ticket stub, Kathakali is the classical dance form of Kerala, dating from the early 17th century. Two guys play drums and one guy plays very loud cymbals which, for good measure, have a microphone right in front of them. The dancers themselves are two men, and while we're talking about the Dupont Circle High Heel Races, as you can see, they have a bit of makeup on. The ticket goes on to say that "the actors do not speak or sing but enact the story through graceful movements and facial expressions." The facial expressions were the best part. The guy playing the girl - he's the one who doesn't look like a frog - did a warm-up act to illustrate the type of facial expressions they do. It involves a lot of intricate eye-rolling, come hither looks, don't come hither looks, wait a minute maybe you should come hither after all looks, maybe I should go thither looks, holy crap what's that smell over thither looks, etc. Anyway, after about 30 minutes of absolutely deafening drums and cymbals, the frog guy, who's actually some sort of heavenly prince, kills the guy in drag, who's actually the evil daughter of some infernal demon. I guess you had to be there. Anyway, the tickets cost four bucks, so it was worth it.
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