The ‘Kathakali Mirror Box’

The ‘Kathakali Mirror Box’ frames Kathakali’s traditional one-on-one teaching methodology within Dr V.S. Ramachandran’s ‘Mirror Box’ ‒ invented to relieve patients of their phantom limb pain. Building on the author’s personal experience of being a ‘special needs’ Kathakali learner after a mental breakdown, the ‘Kathakali Mirror Box’ offers an ideal platform for the care and integration of the broken body and self. This integration, a value for any performer, helps the body gain a sense of itself, of body ownership and unity. To help validate the ‘Kathakali Mirror Box’ as an appropriate site for intercultural actor/performer training, the author references his own experience of teaching Kathakali, one-on-one, to performers in Australia.