Jayate Kuchipudi festival in Europe

Jayate Kuchipudi festival will be held in Europe from June 12 to July 13 under the aegis of United Kingdom Telugu Association (UKTA). As part of the festival, Vedantam Venkata Chalapathi and his troupe will give Bhama Kalapam and Bhaktha Prahlada (Yakshaganam) performances in the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic and other countries.

His troupe includes Yeleswarapu Venkateswarlu, Chinta Venkata Ramana, V Satya Prasad, Pasumarthy Haranatha Sastry, Tadepalli Sai Krishna, V Kiran, VC Sindhu and V Harita. Senior vocalist Kumara Suryanarayana, violinist Palaparthi Anjaneyulu, flutist S Kumar, mridangam exponent P Haranatha Sastry and makeup man Surabhi Jitendra will also accompany the troupe. It comprises of five instrumentalists, besides technical artistes.

The troupe held its rehearsals at Velidandla Hanumantharaya Library in the city. Speaking to The Hans India on Friday before embarking on the foreign tour, dance director and choreographer Vedantam Venkata Chalapathi said, “We are going to perform Yakshaganam for the first time in the European countries. The tour will certainly help promote the ancient Kuchipudi dance form in a big way in Europe.

I thank the Government of Andhra Pradesh for giving me an opportunity to lead the dance troupe to Europe.” Senior vocalist Kumara Suryanarayana said, “I am happy to be a member of the troupe which gets the credit of introducing Yakshaganam in Europe.” Vanaja Uday and Maddali Usha Gayatri from Telangana will give solo performances during the month-long Jayate Kuchipudi festival planned by UKTA.