Kerala has a rich verity of folk dances. They are highly developed and reflected and the temperaments and moods of the localities in music and costume. Nature silently and unobstrusively has moulded these dances just as the lives of people who dance them. Religious colouring is seen in almost all of these folk dances, even in those performed in connection with harvests, sowing of seeds, festivals etc., so much so that their secular nature is always at doubt. There is difficulty in classifying these dances as social, religious and martial. Many of these dances are performed by man alone, some exclusively by women. There are also dances in which men and women perform together. Most of folk dances are performed to the accompaniment of songs which are sung by the dancers themselves or occasionally by a group of musicians. Some dances performed to the accompaniment of musical instruments only.

Padayani or padeni colloquial speech, is one of the most colourful and spectacular folk arts associated with the festivals of certain temples in southern kerala (Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts). The word padayani literally means military formations or rows of army, but in this folk art we have mainly a series of divine and semi-divine impersonations wearing huge masks or kolams of different shapes, colours and desingns painted on the stalks of arecanut fronds. The most important of the kolams usually presented in a padayani performance are Bhairavi (Kali), Kolam (god of death), Yakshi (fairy), Pakshi (bird) etc. The kolam consists primarily of a huge head gear with many projections and devices with a mask for the face or a chest piece to cover the breast and abdomen of the performer.

Padayani probably has its origin in ritual and religion, by today it can be viewed as a folk art with a genuine secular appeal. The whole performance consisting of the dancers or actors who wear the kolams, the singers who recite a different poem for each kolam, and the instrumentalists who evoke wild and loud rhythm on their simple drum called thappu and cymbals, etc., takes the form of procession of Kali and her spirits returning after the killing of the Asura chief Darika. The kolams are traditionally painted by members of the Ganaka community and the dance is performed usually by Nairs who in old times had regular physical exercises and elaborate training on the model of kalaripayattu but without the use of weapons. The influence of padayani may be clearly seen in the more famous theatrical dance drama of Kerala. Viz. Kathakali.