Kuchipudi Dance

Kuchipudi, the indigenous style of dance of Andhra Pradesh, was born in the village of Kuchelapuri or Kuchelapuram, from which it takes its name. According to legends, its founder was Sidhendra Yogi, a devotee of Lord Krishna. He taught this dance to some Brahmin boys in the village and the descendents of those Brahmin families carried on the tradition. From its origin back in the 3rd century BC, it has remained a continuous and living dance tradition of the Kuchipudi region.

As with most Indian classical dances, Kuchipudi also has a religious connection. For a long time, it was presented only at the annual festival of certain temples in Andhra Pradesh. According to tradition, only Brahmin males could perform Kuchipudi (they would do the female roles also), and their programmes were offerings to the deities.

Kuchipudi was originally intended to be a dance drama requiring a set of characters, not a recital by a soloist. These plays, called Ata Bhagavatham, are in Telugu, and are enacted in the open air and on improvised stages. The audience sits on the ground. The performance begins with certain rituals being carried out in front of the audience. Then the Soothradhara or the conductor and the supporting musicians come on the stage, give a play of rhythm on the drums and cymbals, and announce the title of the dance drama. After this 2 people enter, holding a curtain behind which is a dancer in the mask of Ganpati (the elephant headed god). The dancer dances for some time to worship Ganpati (so that the dance drama goes on without hitches). Each principal character introduces themselves with a daru, 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. There are nearly 80 darus or dance sequences in the dance drama.

The most popular Kuchipudi dance is the pot dance in which a dancer keeps a pot filled with water on her head and balances her feet on the rim of a brass plate. She moves on the stage by manipulating the brass plate, keeping her feet on its rim all the time and doing some hand movements without spilling a drop of water on the ground.

There is nothing elaborate in the costumes and the makeup is light. The important characters have different make up and the female characters wear head, arm and neck ornaments and jewelry such as Rakudi (head ornament), Chandra Vanki (arm ornament), Adda Bhasa and Kasina Sara (neck ornament) and a long plait decorated with flowers and jewelry. The music in Kuchipudi is classical Karnatic. The mridanga, violin and clarinet are commonly used as accompaniment.

Like Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi has undergone many changes. There are presently only two melams, or professional troupes of male performers. The bulk of the dancers are woman.

Some of the exponents of this dance form are Guru V.C. Satyam, Satyanarayana Sarma, Swapnasundari, Mallika Sarabhai, V. Prahalada Sarma, M.V.N. Murthy, Raja Reddy, Radha Reddy, Jaya Ram Rao and Vanashree Rao.