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From Communities of Belief to Artists in Performance: ‘Clear Enigma’ of Odin Teatret and the Pulluvas of Kerala, or Three Movements of Community Heritage

This paper looks at the transformative nature of intangible cultural heritage and its co-relation to the evolution of a community. In order to do so the paper looks at the caste labour of *Naga Kalam Pulluvan Pattu* which is a form of *Kalamezhuth Pattu* where *Kala* means art or picture and *mezuth* is the act of making, and *pattu* is to sing i.e. it is *the song of making art*. It is performed primarily by the Pulluva caste community. Although different regions of Kerala, where this ritual art practice is found often sees other caste groups associated to this practice. Naga Kalam Pulluvan Pattu is a negotiation with snakes of the region where it is mediated through the Pulluvas—at least that is the belief—that the snakes would not destroy crops or bite small children and this ritual will bring prosperity. In 2014, I first saw a performance of Nagakalam Pattu as part of a narrative called *Clear Enigma*directed by Eugenio Barba. Clear Enigma was to have only one performance to celebrate the 50 years anniversary of Odin Teatret at a small village in Denmark called Holstebro where the theatre is located. From what is known, the village of Holstebro is not infested by snakes! Although both ritual and theatre have often been seen as embodied and transformative, this paper looks at what happens to caste labour that is entrenched in belief and a community’s social being, when there is a transference of it as theatre.

 

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