KUCHIPUDI DANCE
Kala The Arts run classes and also performances in a wide variety of Indian Classical Dance styles, as well as Odissi, including Kuchipudi. Kuchipudi is a Classical Indian dance from Andhra Pradesh,India. Kuchipudi' dance form got its name from the name of Kuchipudi village where the resident Brahmins practiced this traditional dance form. Kuchipudi, like other classical dance forms in India, traces its roots to the Sanskrit Natya Shastra, a foundational treatise on the performing arts .In Kuchipudi there is no dancer, no actor and no musician who is exclusively that. All put together. The whole point of it is the style developed with a group of boys taken on to act and tell the stories. In fact, it was not just dance alone. In India, dance and drama have never been separate. And the dramatic element in Kuchipudi is very important. In Kuchipudi, the dancer is the story-teller. Kuchipudi is a team performance, with roots in Hindu religious festivals. The drama-dance involves extensive stage movements and exacting footwork, wherein the underlying drama is mimed by expressive gestures of hand (mudras), eye and face movements. The expressive style is through a sign language that follows the classical pan-Indian Sanskrit texts such as Natya Shastra, Abhinaya Darpanaand Nrityararnavali. The dance is accompanied with Carnatic music, while the recital is in Telugu language. |
Visting Dancer Arunima Kumar who taught Kuchipudi Dance for Kala The Arts. Photo by Simon Richardson
The traditional Kuchipudi was performed by all males troupe. A dancer in a male role would be in Angivastra, also known as Bagalbandi, wear a dhoti (a single pleated piece of cloth hanging down from the waist). A dancer in a female role would wear a Sari with light makeup. Women artists wear a brilliantly colorful Sari with a pleated fan stitched in front to help highlight the exacting footwork. The end of the wrapped Sari is held fast under a light metallic belt at waist. A Kuchipudi artist braids her hair somewhat differently than a Bharatanatyam artist, to reflect the regional traditions, yet wearing flowers are common.
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