ETTUMANOOR P KANNAN has nearly 22 years of Kathakali training in him and has been performing the art since 1976. He had his training in this great Indian classical theatre from masters.

The greatest achievement that Kannan could claim is taking the art beyond realms of performance and approach in an academic manner, by which he could make the art accessible for Western theatre students and enthusiasts.

His doctoral thesis on Semiotic analysis on body language of Kathakali is considered to be one of the best ones in its kind. At his Abhinavam School of Theatre Expressions - Centre for Research and Training in Kathakali, Kerala, Kannan teaches students from India and abroad the theories in Natyashastra, theatrical theories involved in traditional Kathakali and guide students in higher education and research.

Kannan is presently offering International Kathakali Theatre Workshops for those interested in classical Indian theatre in August and December.

Kannan has directed and acted in television programmes based on Malayalam poems using Kathakali techniques. He has choreographed and acted in a new Kathakali play "Khandavadaaham" using traditional techniques. His one-actor presentations of Macbeth and Ramayana in Los Angeles in 1998 had earned him a lot of praises abroad. He participated in a theatre workshop "Asia Pacific Performance Exchange" conducted by University of California, Los Angeles, in 2000 where he lived with other 25 theatre persons from different parts of the world. He had created a post-modern theatre piece "Voices" collaborating with Josefina Baez and Denise Uyehara and created a drama on Oedipus story collaborating with Peng (China) and Cheng Chey Yu (USA) in 2000. He also directed and performed as Macbeth in a theatre production by 'Dog & Pony Show' in Pittsburgh in December 2001. He has collaborated with Sreyashi Dey, an Odissi dancer, for creating a widely accepted performance of Tagore's play "Karna and Kunti" in 2002. He has travelled through Indonesia, Hawaii and California with 11 artistes from all over the world, for "ART OF RICE Traveling Theatre" sponsored by University of California, Los Angeles in August-Oct 2003.