traditionally, a classic kathakali performance can go on for many hours, sometimes a whole night.shorter attention spans, so the artform has had to adapt. you know, the original one, it goes throughout a night, you know everything is in detail, everything is intricate. and nowadays we are condensing it for a one and a half, two hour programme. so in a way we do lose our originality. what is done for hours and throughout a night, that is not being shown now. it represents the fire god! but whether the performance is a marathon length all—nighter or something more contained, the highlight of the show is always the appearance on stage of pacha, wearing his traditional green makeup and performing steps choreographed hundreds of years ago to captivate audiences of today. well, we're almost at the end of this week's programme, but we have just got time for one more dance off. so let's take a trip all the way back to 2015, long before social distancing had ever been heard of, and when the bigger the party, the better it was. let's hope we can all return to those times before too long. in