The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Kuchipudi in California

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Wednesday, Apr 02, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Kuchipudi in California

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Kuchipudi, the famed classical dance form of Andhra Pradesh, is all set to get a global focus at the first ever Kuchipudi International Convention to be held at Cupertino, California in June.

SiliconAndhra, a California-based organisation, formulated the plan for the massive convention to be attended by about 2,500 artistes settled in different parts of the world like Europe, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, US besides renowned exponents of Kuchipudi cutting across five generations from Andhra Pradesh and other parts of India.

Department of Culture and Telugu University have extended their support for the mega three-day event.

The objective of the convention is to enable Kuchipudi dance form get an international status, introduce Kuchipudi stalwarts from India on a single platform to the Telugus abroad and inspire young Kuchipudi students there, Director, Culture R. Kavitha Prasad told reporters here on Monday.

SiliconAndhra founder and Chairman Anand Kuchibhotla said that the three-day event to be held in Cupertino from June 20 to 22 would recreate the flavour of Kuchipudi village at the venue.

The inauguration would be marked by ‘Kuchipudi Shobha Yatra’ in the streets of Cupertino to be led by its Mayor Dolly Saldoval, ‘Siddendrayogi Rathotsavam’ with ‘Utsava Vigrahas’ brought from Kuchipudi village.

Several American senators, Mayors, and Congress members would also participate in the procession to be organised as per Telugu culture and traditions.

In reverence to the ‘Guru-shishya parampara’ followed in imparting Kuchipudi dance form, the first day would be marked by ‘Guru Pujotsavam’ where renowned Kuchipudi exponents like Pasumarthi Gopalakrishna, Vempati Chinna Satyam, Vedanta Satyanarayana Sharma, would be honoured as part of the event.

Ballet

A special dance ballet with 500-members under the direction of Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam would be a major attraction on the inaugural day to be also witnessed by Guinness Book of World Records representatives, UK.

The convention would be marked by lecture-cum-demonstrations, performances related to Kuchipudi dance form like Yakshaganas, intellectual deliberations plan to bring more prominence to Kuchipudi in the years to come, Mr. Anand said.

Renowned Kuchipudi danseuse Shobha Naidu said Kuchipudi convention would help create awareness.

A souvenir tracing the history, evolution and prominence of Kuchipudi would also be published.

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