Kuchipudi

Kuchipudi ( Telugu: కూచిపూడి ) is a Classical Indian dance form from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is the name of a small village in the Divi taluk of the district Krishna. Resident Brahmins practicing the dance and the place thus got its name.

History

The wedding dance was supposed to have been, bestowed during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hassan Tanesha Golconda as Kuchipudi Brahmins for their dance performances by Tanesha with land.

Siddhendra Yogi is considered the first teacher who has taught the present form of this dance drama. One of his most famous creations is called Bhamakalapam. He taught this art of dance and boys of the Brahmin caste, although it is now dominated by women.

Known representatives of Kuchipudi are Vempati Chinna Satyam, Vedantam Lakshminarayana, Tadepalli Perayya Chinta Krishna Murthy, Vedantam Sathya Narayana Sarma, Venu Gopala Krishna Sarma Pasumarthi, Mrinalini Sadananda, Nilimma Devi, Anuradha Nehru and Sarala Kumari Ghanta.

In Chennai, Tamil Nadu, dance is taught in the Kuchipudi Arts Academy.

Description

A performance usually begins with the presentation of the characters. The dancers come of it onto the stage and make their role with a small composition of dance and song ( daru ) ago. Then the real show begins. Kuchipudi is accompanied by Carnatic music singing typical. For the South Indian music instruments like mridangam (percussion), flute and tambura come ( stringed instrument that is plucked ) are used.