Kerala has a rich verity of folk dances. They are highly developed and reflected and the temperaments and moods of the localities in music and costume. Nature silently and unobstrusively has moulded these dances just as the lives of people who dance them. Religious colouring is seen in almost all of these folk dances, even in those performed in connection with harvests, sowing of seeds, festivals etc., so much so that their secular nature is always at doubt. There is difficulty in classifying these dances as social, religious and martial.

Many of these dances are performed by man alone, some exclusively by women. There are also dances in which men and women perform together. Most of folk dances are performed to the accompaniment of songs which are sung by the dancers themselves or occasionally by a group of musicians. Some dances performed to the accompaniment of musical instruments only.

In several dances the performers form a circle and clap as they dances. Sometimes, instead of clapping they strike small sticks which they hold in their hands. The costumes and ornaments are peculiar to the places to which they belong. The eloquent, effortless ease which the dances are executed and the overwhelming buoyancy of sprit are wonderful. In this folk dances there is no difference between the performers and the audience. Almost all of these folk dances are simple but beneath this simplicity is a profundity of conception and directness of expression which are of high artistic order.

There are more than fifty well known folk dances in kerala. Of them the Padayani, Kaliyattom, Mudiettu, Kolam thullal, Kolkali, Poorakkali, Valakali, Kamapadavukali, Kanniyarkali, Parichamuttukali, Thappukali, Kuravarkali and Thiruvathirakali are most popular.

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