INTRODUCTION
India has very rich tradition of classical dances. In olden days dances are performed mostly in theatres. The dancers will mime the story while singer singing the story and all the instruments accompany with that. Dancers are occupied central position of stage.

The Indian classical dances are attached to the temples. Indian classical dance is combination of nritta and nritya. Nritta means it is rhythmic element. Nritya means combination of rythemic element with expression. Most of the Indian classical dances take the theme from ethics and beliefs of the Indian people.

The most acknowledged classical dances in India are. Each art form has regional connection. Kuchipudi ? Andhra Pradesh,Bharatnatyam ? TamilNadu. Odessi ? Orissa, Kathakali ? Kerala and Kathak from Noth India.

Among these all forms of Indian classical dances, now I am going to describe about famous classical dance of south India, Kuchipudi. It is also native place of my father.

All our forefathers belong to this place.

Kuchipudi Dance
Kuchipudi is a small hamlet in the south-east part of Andhra Pradesh district in India. The name �eKuchipudi�f derives from a small village �eKuchelapuram�f. The dance style is famous for its graceful movement and strong dramatic character.

There is a legend concerned to origin of �eKuchiudi�f dance. Once upon a time there was an orphan from a place called �eSrikakulam�f (eastern part) of Andhra Pradesh. He was brought up by the village people. After some time the village people had got him married at childhood as it is the custom of India at that time.

After that he went to another place for pursuance of his studies. There he got the name as �eSiddhendra Yogi�f. After acquiring knowledge he came to home town. The village elders ordered him to look after his wife and assume his family responsibilities. On the journey he has to cross the river. He started swimming,after some time he realized that he could not swim further. So he prayed god. He prayed god and vowed to become a sanyasi (renunciate) .He devoted his life to dance. He settled in village �eKuchiPudi�f and started teaching dance. After that �eKuchipudi�f flourished as one of great classical dance form of India. It was held high esteem by the rulers of Deccan continent. The emperor of the Deccan continent gave the lands to dancers and made it more popular art from of Andhra Pradesh.

Kuchipudi is a perfect balance between three aspects- Nritta, Nritya and Natya,. The use of laya (rhythm), thandava (foot steps and rhythm) and abhinaya (expression) is common with the Kuchipudi artist. This art form gives more importace to expression.

A number of people are responsible for flourishing of this art from. One of them was Guru �e Vendatam Lakshminarayana Shastry�f. After him, a number of other luminaries would mould it into its present shape. Some notable names are Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam and many more. Vempati Chinna, Satyam and Vedantam Satya Narayana sarma, became great Gurus as well as dancers.

Kuchipudi dance now gained immense popularity all over the world. We cannot express its vibrant movements, expressions, littling music and stage performance. One should see and enjoy the beauty of this style of dance. Watching it live is most exhilarating.

Back to world report top page