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Now on BBC News, it's time for The Travel Show.

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Hello and welcome to The Travel Show, coming to you this week from

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southern India. Later in the programme, I will try my hand, or

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should I say, my face, at this traditional dance form. That is

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still to come. This is what is also coming up. We are in New York,

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finding out whether tourist dollars could save some of the city's iconic

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churches. The latest global gadgets. This week, Dancing On Ice,

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literally. (SINGING). New York is home to some of the world's

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best-known gospel churches but as gentrification takes hold of

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neighbourhoods like the Harlem, some locals feel they are being pushed

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out. Our correspondent went to take a look. Harlem is America's most

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famous African-American community and the cultural capital of black

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America. Until recently, Harlem was off the tourist map. Once on by

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gangs and drug pushers, today property prices have skyrocketed and

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rents have almost doubled in the last ten years. Even the former

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president of the United dates, Bill Clinton, has his office in Harlem.

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This neighbourhood became known as sugar Hill, should remaining money.

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If you had money, this was the neighbour that you moved into.

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Harlem, I would say, is the most legendary neighbourhood in the

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United States of America. (SINGING). Many visitors come here

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just to hear the unique sounds of the gospel church choirs. In Harlem

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alone, there are more than 400 houses of worship, which consist of

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Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist and various other denominations.

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This one goes all the way back to 1805... Gospel tours are listed as

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one of the ten top visitor attractions in New York City and

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tourists here are welcome as it. This is one of the last churches

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Martin Luther King Jnr visited before he was assassinated and he

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gave a speech here. Churches are struggling not only here in Harlem

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but worldwide to maintain their congregation and we welcome visitors

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to Harlem on gospel tours because it helps them to keep the lights on. It

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helps them to maintain the property. And at the same time, they

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are expanding their message. But it is not just the financial needs of

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many places of worship. Gentrification is starting to make a

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huge impact on congregation numbers, causing less wealthy

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African-Americans to leave Harlem because of rising rents and property

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prices. In the last five years, more than 20 Baptist churches and local

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church groups have closed. This year, another three buildings are

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earmarked for closure to make way for high-end apartments. By and

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large, gentrification is a bad thing because what it means is that harm

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is being remade not for the people who live there, who are part of this

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demographic warehouse of the people who live in harmony less than $34

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million -- 30 $4000 per year, but when they create those

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3,000,000-dollar penthouses, that is not for that demographic, so it is

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not a good thing because no matter how bad things were in the past, at

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least you have a place to live which you can afford. At least you had a

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church. Now, the church that was so valuable to the African-American

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experience because it was utilised as a tool to liberate black people

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from slavery and then to gain civil rights is being undermined by this

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gentrification, which is happening so fast that it is in danger of

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displacing an entire community. I want to point out to you folks the

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world-famous theatre. It is a similar story in the Bronx, which is

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my next stop on the gospel tour of the city. We are now crossing out of

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Manhattan into the outer boroughs of the Bronx. The Bronx is a less

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travelled tourist road, the birthplace of hip-hop culture. The

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Bronx as we see today is nothing like the gangster movies of the

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1970s and 1980s. There is a Renaissance happening here. We

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arrive at the greater universal Baptist Church. It is one of the

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oldest in the neighbourhood. This is the taller. We are about to go

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inside and experience it first hand. The service lasts for an hour and

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you are encouraged to join in. And we are soon hearing what gospel

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church choirs are famous for. (SINGING). The sounds are uplifting

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and feel part of something special. What an amazing experience. I must

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admit that when I first got here this morning, was sure what to

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expect, but the congregation made us all feel so welcome. It was an

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amazing experience, amazing. You just felt really good and happy with

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the service. We wanted to join in. It was fantastic. I have seen this

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on television many, many times, but we were made to feel very welcome.

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Churches here in the Bronx are facing the same problems as the man

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Harlem neighbours. Gentrification. We are decreasing because there are

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a lot of people moving out. A lot of people are dying. But they are

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building. If you can just look out here, you can see that they are

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continuing to build around here, so we have different people coming in.

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Tourist dollars alone won't be able to save this truly amazing churches

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but with additional support from governments and campaigns being set

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up to save the local heritage, it is hoped you will still be able to hear

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this unique sounds for at least some years yet. And if you are thinking

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of heading over to New York any time soon, here are some of our top tips.

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New York is often thought of as just the island of Manhattan. There are

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four other borrowers that make up the city. The borough of Queens is

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famous for its sporting venues but it is also home to cutting-edge art

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galleries and museums. If you are a jazz fan, try the Louis Armstrong

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house museum, still preserved as it was when he and his wife Lucille

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lived there. And usually for a city, New York is 40 miles of coastline.

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The boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn have the most number of

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beaches. Summing up the city's beaches is prohibitive during winter

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but you can still visit for a walk along the sand. And heads of the

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Bronx if you fancy a green escape. Its botanical Gardens fancy 250

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acres and contain more than 1 million plants. This year marks the

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125th anniversary of the founding of the gardens and there is a series of

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special events scheduled to celebrate. Entrance to the gardens

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is free on Wednesday. Sundays and seasonal exhibitions as well.

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Tickets can be purchased online. Time for your travel update. First

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to London, where the city's biggest ever liked festival was so popular

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that some of the lights had to be switched off. Concerns that some

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areas were becoming dangerously overcrowded meant that organisers

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had to temporarily shut part of the festival down. The four-day free

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event featured installations from 30 artists, illuminating iconic

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landmarks across the city. Millions of Catholics gathered in Venezuela

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to pay tribute to the divine shepherdess in a religious ceremony

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dating back to 1856. Today, around 2.5 million people joined the

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procession, which takes place once per year.

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Excellent wind and wave conditions resulted in a spectacular show at

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North America's largest kite surfing event. Skills were put to the test

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at the Lord of the winged kite surfing competition, which saw

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contestants jumping as high as 11 one half metres into the air. Some

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tourists and residents in Moscow were pleased to see snow returned to

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the capital city after an unseasonably warm December. We came

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for snow, we liked very much snow. It is different from our country.

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Today is not so cold, so it is quite nice. 14,000 snowploughs and trucks

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were put to work cleaning the city's roads and streets. In the UK,

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8000 square miles of coastline have been given extra protection. It is

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hoped that the new designation of marine conservation zones will help

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protect habitats and species that are considered under threat. They

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mean that 20% of English waters are now protected. Coming up later in

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the show... I will be trying to keep up with the nimble footed dunces of

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Kerala -- dancers. Hello and welcome to the famous

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mountain range just outside North London. With the ski season well

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under way all around the world, I have a set of gadgets for you that

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will make you supercool on the slopes. Before we even get onto the

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snow, let's be honest. A massive part of the fun of a trip like this

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lies in the apres ski activities. You can bring some of those

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extracurricular activities right onto the slopes with you, with shock

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polls. These are for the skier who has everything. The unique thing

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about these is the user can fill them with up to 75 millilitres of

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their favourite drink. Overall, it is a ski pole with a unique feature,

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sure to entertain as well as serve a purpose. These are a good set of

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polls because of the straps that clip on and clip off. But in terms

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of having a drink inside the poll, it is a novelty thing. I think most

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able will wait till they get back to the Lodge before they have a drink,

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write? Most sensible people, and you are sensible, aren't you? Aren't

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you? One thing every snowboarder and skier needs to do is capture their

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finest moment. You don't want to miss out on reliving something

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completely awesome that happens on the slopes. The best way to do that

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is with a little mobile camera. There are lots to choose from in the

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market, including this brand-new edition. This tiny HD camera comes

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with a built-in microphone. It works much like the camera is a high-end

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smartphone, which begs the question, why would I want one of these as

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well? It is quirky, but not really designed for adventure sports,

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because you can't clip it onto your helmet or skis. You also need to

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download an application to get the full features, like real-time

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sharing and viewing what you are actually seeing. Me and skiing are

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like that! I'm going to put this to the test. Are you sure no one will

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realise? Great... That was exhausting, I love it, such

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a rush! If you are like me, you will want to take your music wherever you

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go, and the slopes should be no different. But safety is also

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important, so here is a way of combining the two. This is a

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communication helmet fitted with beats by Dr Dre headphones, allowing

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the user to listen to their music virus smart phone or MP3 player. The

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helmet is lightweight and well ventilated. It comes with a cable

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that plugs into the helmet and your phone, allowing you to control track

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selection and volume. The sound quality on this is really good, and

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as a helmet it is snug and comfortable, but if you are a

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beginner snipped skier or snowboarder, it is not recommended

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that you have music playing while you are on the slopes, because you

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will need to keep your wits about you.

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To end this week we are off to India, heading south to Kerala, the

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land of lush green forest, canals and coconuts. It is also the home of

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Pappa Kali, an intricate form of classical dance that has been

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performed here the centuries, and is high on the list of things people

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come here to see. -- Kathakali. To learn more about Kathakali I have

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come here to meet a man whose family have

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theatre? Amazing! Central to Kathakali is the complex ritual

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make-up, which turns the performers into supernatural beings, gods and

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demon is. the make-up can take many hours, and

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here it is applied directly in eyebrows, eyes, lips, fingers,

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footwork. And all of these stories come from Hindu stories. Originally

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developed as a way of teaching religious scripture to rival

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audiences, Kathakali is now also a big draw for tourists coming here to

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Kerala. I am very curious to know, how do you tell a story with your

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eyebrows, your cheeks, your lips and your fingers? Can you teach me?

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Kathakali has an alphabet accuses the positions of the hand. Show me a

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segment of how you would use the alphabet to tell the story. Come...

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What kind of eye movements do you have? This is getting excited... And

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then? Sideways. I think it is me being an amateur, but when I try to

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do with my vision blurs, but your vision doesn't blur? You focus in

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the distance. Long-distance. That is the secret. Once you combine the

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facial expressions with hand gestures, then you have a classic

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Kathakali sentence. Something tells me I have somewhere to go before

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could be understood. Bees... Team those moves with some fancy footwork

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and you have a performance, in theory, at least. That is very good,

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very impressive. I am not very good at all, am I? Imagine that all the

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make-up on, the full regalia, probably about a 100 people looking

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at you, and the Indian head to challenge is. About 47 degrees, I

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think. The scrutiny of every single step and your eyeball movement, I

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think I would crack under the pressure. Traditionally, a classic

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Kathakali performance can go on for many hours, sometimes the whole

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night. Some modern audiences have shorter attention spans, so the

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artform has had to adapt. The original ones would go throughout

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the night, everything is in detail, everything is intricate, and

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nowadays we are condensing it for a 1.5 or two-hour programme. So we do

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lose every regionality, what is done for hours and throughout the night,

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that is not being shown now. But whether the performance is marathon

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length all night for something more contained, the highlight of the show

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is always the appearance on stage of this character, these steps were

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originally choreographed thousands of years ago to captivate audiences

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of today. That is all the time we have for

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this week, but do join us next week, when Carmen is in Hawaii,

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getting up close to one of the world's most active volcanoes. If

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you listen very carefully, you can hear what sounds like thunder in the

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distance. Apparently, this is the heat from inside the greater causing

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the rocks from the outside to fall into the molten lava. You can keep

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in touch with us by signing onto our social media feeds. All the details

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on your screens right now. But from me and the rest of the Travel Show

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team, it is

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