Yakshagana classes attractstudents from across globe

Kathegaararu, which offers short online courses, is run by a material science graduate

A Bengaluru group is teaching Yakshagana online, and begins its second three-month online course from November 7.

Prasad Cherkady, creative director of Kathegaararu-The Storytellers, is a Yakshagana artiste who has worked with well-known professional groups from coastal Karnataka centres such as Kateelu and Edaneeru. He has learnt both the Badagutittu and Tenkutittu variants of Yakshagana. A material science graduate who came from Cherkady, Udupi, to Bengaluru, Prasad began teaching Yakshagana in 2003. “I started with children but now I teach adults too,” he says.

Prasad found the offline-to-online switch challenging. “But I soon understood the reach of online classes. Some students of short-term courses have stayed on for advanced lessons,” he says. The rigorous operatic form calls for close mentoring, and Prasad found recorded videos useful to give students individual attention. “Notes moved from physical ones to soft copies and PDFs,” he says.

The course includes training in bhagavatike (singing) and natya (dance). He teaches in Kannada and English, and the text of the Yakshagana episodes and songs is in Kannada. The institute now has students from the coastal belt of Karnataka, Mumbai, Hyderabad, the UK and Germany.

“We have new learners — students, filmmakers, homemakers, and dance and music practitioners,” he says.

Students’ take

City-based mechanical aerospace engineer Ganesh Acharya has been learning for over a year. “Since the classes moved online, I feel it is more personal and effective,” he says. Subhiksha S Shetty, a PU student from Kundapura, has had no difficulty online.

Kowshik Kukkemane, post-doctoral researcher, University of Hyderabad, is formally learning Yakshagana for the first time. He had performed earlier as an amateur artiste, and online classes have helped him reconnect with Prasad.

For more details - Kathegaararu, 97415 08468; [e-mail]