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This dance takes its name
from the Kuchipudi village in Andhra Pradesh. From its origin,
as far back as the 3rd century B.C., it has remained a
continuous and living dance tradition of this region. For a long
time, Kuchipudi was presented only at temples and that too only
for annual festivals of certain temples in Andhra. It was
actually a ritualistic performance full of religious fervor and
devotion. Generated by the Bhakti cult, Kuchipudi has imbibed
elements both from Bharatanatyam and folk forms. According to
tradition, Kuchipudi dance was originally performed only by men
who all belonged to the Brahmin community, known popularly as
Bhagavathalu of Kuchipudi.
Their programmes were
offerings to the deities and they never allowed women in their
groups. Kuchipudi art was intended as a dance drama requiring a
set of character and never as a mere dance by a soloist which is
common in present times. This dance drama is sometimes known as
Ata Bhagavatham. Renowned gurus like Vedantam
Lakshminarayana, Chinta Krishna Murthy and Tadepalli Perayya
enriched the dance form by bringing in women. Dr Vempati Chinna
Satyam added several dance dramas and choreographed many solo
performances, thus broadening the horizons of this dance form.
Today Kuchipudi is considerably a different dance style and, in
most cases, it is a solo performance done by female dancers.
Of course the main expressional numbers are somewhat the
same like Jayadeva's Ashtapadi, Ramayana, Puranas,
Krishna Leela Tarangini or Tyagaraja's compositions. In
Bhama Kalapam, the most famous play in the Kuchipudi
repertory, Satyabhama is the heroine who is deceived by her
lover and dejected by his absence. Apart from Bhama Kalapam, the
other famous dance dramas are Gollakalapam by Bhagavatha
Ramayya, Prahlada Charitam by Tirumala
Narayanacharyalu, Sashirekha Parinaya and others.
In a Kuchipudi performance, each principal character
introduces itself on the stage with a daru. A daru is a small
composition of dance and song specially designed for each
character to help him or her reveal his or her identity and also
to show the performer's skill in the art. The main Kuchipudi
performance could include Rangapuja - the equivalent of an
alarippu, with the directions, the stage, the audience and the
teachers and elders propitiated; Kautvamu - jatis and
lyrics in praise of a deity; Jatiswaram - pure dance set to
musical syllables; Shabdamu - a lyrical piece in praise
of god or royalty; Kirtanam - an expressional piece,
generally composed by saint-poets; Ashtapadi - another
expressional piece derived from Jayadeva's Geet Govinda and
Shivalila Natyam - stories about the Lord of Dance in his
various forms. Padam, Javali, Simhanandini, Shloka and Tillana
may also feature.
But the highlight of a typical
Kuchipudi performance is the Tarangam, where the dancer stands
on the edge of a brass plate, balances a pot of water on her
head and/or lighted diyas in her hands and moves through complex
jatis. The music in Kuchipudi is classical Carnatic. The
mridangam, violin and a clarinet are the common instruments
employed as accompaniment.
Famous Exponents:
Vempatti Satyanarayana, China Krishna Murthy, Yamini
Krishnamurthy, Swapna Sundari, Radha and Raja Reddy, Vedamtam
Satyam, Sitaramaiya and Sarla Kumari.
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