Actor-dancer Rima Kallingal is in her element when we meet at the Fine Arts Hall in Kochi, Kerala. She is “happily tired” for she and seven members from her dance company, Mamangam, have been practising daily for the past two months for their maiden show, Neythe — Dance of the Weaves.
The 35-minute Indian contemporary dance production, which will debut this Saturday, is an ode to weaving and the handloom weavers of Chendamangalam. The small town, which is one of Kerala’s handloom hubs, was among the worst hit by the flood of 2018. Looms and livelihoods were lost as were the fabric stocks prepared for that year’s Onam.
The destruction led to a movement by designers, entrepreneurs, actors, and regular people to help rebuild the artisans’ lives. “It got me thinking about weavers, their craft and their livelihood,” says Kallingal, 39, who collaborated with Save the Loom, a nonprofit that works with handloom weavers. What she saw in 2018 stayed with her.
