Tradition on the threshold

Dance gurus from traditional families of Kuchipudi, young dancers pursuing the art form, the chairman of proposed Natyaramam and Silicon Andhra, Kuchibhotla Anand, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu, all have one common goal – the prosperity of the dance tradition, Kuchipudi, the pride of Telugu land.

The wheel is set rolling and with combined efforts and unrelenting zeal, the dream of a world-class dance village does not look too difficult to achieve. This may well turn out to be a watershed moment in the history of the centuries’ old dance form

Kuchipudi, the Yakshagana dance-drama tradition as conceptualised by the Vaishnava poet Siddhendra Yogi over 600-years ago has transformed, transgressed and re-invented over the years. Many stalwart and visionary gurus have contributed their might to propagate the dance form and add their creative inputs, and the traditional storytelling format that originated in a nondescript village around 50km away from Vijayawada, has spread to international stage.

Today, especially after the formation of the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Kuchipudi received attention of the government of AP like never before. The sporadic support of the earlier times notwithstanding, last year, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had announced Rs 100 crore for the construction of a Kuchipudi Natyaramam of international standards at the village and constituted a committee chaired by Anand Kuchibhotla, who is also the founder chairman of Silicon Andhra, the cultural organisation working towards perpetuating Telugu culture, literature and tradition. He also announced his decision to introduce Kuchipudi as a part of school syllabus across the state.

Since the last few years non-profit organisation, Silicon Andhra has been undertaking various initiatives to promote the traditional dance form considered to be an integral part of the Telugu culture, in India and the US. The International Kuchipudi Convention organised on a massive scale in Hyderabad, every two years since 2008 has been a part of this initiative that has gained an entry for its scale in the Guinness Book of World Records. In fact, the Chief Minister had also announced his wish to conduct the dance convention for 2016 at the newly built Natyaramam – a tall order indeed.

Rich legacy
Kuchipudi in Movva mandal has always enjoyed an iconic status as the nerve centre of tradition and its role in giving birth to a cultural identity that is unique to the land of Telugus. It was here that a handful of families took upon the mantle to learn and nurture the dance form to the best of abilities. It is here that guru Vempati Venkata Narayana honed his skill, and was such extraordinary performer that during his rendition of ‘Madhura Nagarilo’ in Anandabhairavi ragam, the 18th century vaggeyakar Thyagaraja Swamy, who has composed and written thousands of Carnatic kritis in innumerable ragas, was so mesmerised that he asked the dance guru for anything he wished. And guru Venkata Narayana requested the vaggeyakar to give away just one ragam to the people of Kuchipudi – the Carnatic music legend promptly agreed and since then stopped composing in Anandabhairavi.

Kuchipudi is the birthplace to stalwarts like Chinta Venkata Ramayya, who continued teaching dance till his last breath, literally, and whose Venkata Rama Natyamandali was popularised by Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma. He had also inspired and tutored many other legends including Vedantam Raghavayya, who aspired to be as big a name as his guru.

Kuchipudi in Telugu films
Raghavayya was a propagator of the Yakshagana tradition – the original format of Kuchipudi that in later decades gave way to shorter ballets and solo songs and kritis widening the repertoire. His choreography for films like ‘Devadasu’ and ‘Suvarna Sundari’ stand testimony to the balance one can strike while composing for the mass entertainment media, yet retaining the soul of tradition. Even a dull film was elevated with his choreography like in a relatively unknown film called, ‘Rahasyam’ for which he choreograph a beautiful Yakshaganam – ‘Girija Kalyanam’ rendered by the legendary Ghantasala. In later years Pasumarthy Krishna Murthy, who also popularised Javalis and Thillanas and Vempati Peda Satyam took on the mantle and gave Kuchipudi a cinematic appeal. Peda Satyam’s rendition of Siva Tandavam for films like ‘Venkateswara Mahatyam’ remains unparalleled.

Revolutionising Kuchipudi
Vedantam Lakshmi Narayana Sastri was yet another guru, who was instrumental in teaching dance to women and also to dancers not belonging to the Brahmin community, there by revolutionising the tradition. It is his story that inspired famous Telugu filmmaker Jandhyala to make the National Award winning film, ‘Anandabhairavi’. In later years Vempati Chinna Satyam took over the mantle and promoted women dancers in the Kuchipudi tradition. He was also the creator of many ballets to make the dance form stage-friendly that continues to enjoy popularity with the dancers of the day and he has tutored many famous gurus of our times.

State of the affairs
The village despite its rich history of dance, until recently was in a state of gross neglect. Around 13 families propagating Kuchipudi continue to stay in the village, even as their kin have chosen to move out either to teach and perform dance or to pursue other vocations. The village has one Telugu medium secondary school that has Sanskrit as compulsory subject, and a primary school, and most children travel to Movva and other neighbouring towns for higher education and to study in English medium.

There were no roads, the SC/ST colonies did not even have proper toilets, the bus stop also served as a dump yard. Yet, the gurus, who chose to stay back simply refuse to be bogged down by the grim state of the village and the dance form, and pride themselves in being the torchbearers of the centuries old tradition.

One of them, Pasumarthi Kesava Prasad, who is also the trustee of the Balatripura Sundari Ramalingeswara Swamy temple – the village deity, laments, “Our forefathers and legends of Kuchipudi did not expect fame or wealth when they religiously pursued Kuchipudi, served and propagated it. It is a legacy that they believed is theirs to take forward and they let the art take them forward. Nowadays; we are pursuing wealth and fame, and art has taken a back seat. Had our gurus thought in similar way, the end of Kuchipudi would have come about long ago.”

Emphasising on the importance of the village, he says, “It is here that you see Kuchipudi in its original form. Solo repertoire came later and is easier to perform. We would do Yakshaganam that involved the entire family of dancers. But, today, the number of artistes has dwindled, so much so that for the recent Yakshaganam festival, we had to get artistes from outside to perform.”

Need of the hour
He advises, “In order to introduce dance in schools, it is challenging to find enough number of qualified teachers. Dancers should be recruited in such a way to provide them with dependable employment. Further, in schools, credits must be given for skill in dance. Like in Kerala, the young dancers should be given preference for admission into professional courses. Kuchipudi dancers should also be considered as brand ambassadors of the State and public sector organisations, just like sports persons. How else will it inspire students to take up dance along with studies?”

While expressing his hope that the government initiatives do take shape and bring about the larger good to the art form, he reminds, “We have always seen that the artistes from outside are given importance, which is fine. But, for the gurus from Kuchipudi families, the senior ones and the current generation too, especially the ones who have decided to be in the village, it has been a raw deal. They are being reduced to serving tea-coffee to the celebrity guests, quite literally. Even on the teaching front, they are at a disadvantage, also because they are not educated and hence cannot speak in English or go out and make a living in a way the other modern gurus are able to.”

Another problem plaguing the dance form is the growing dislike for the male dancers adorning the female roles, or even taking to stage – which is a threat to the inherent nature of the dance-drama tradition. Kesava Prasad gives the onus of this unhealthy trend to event organisers, who discourage male dancers and the Telugu movies that portray male dancers as gayish in their tendencies.

The challenge ahead
It is no easy task – And involves humungous effort, much more challenging than building a ‘Natyaramam’. We are talking about centuries old art form that has been subjected to decades of neglect. We are referring to the tens of Kuchipudi dancers, who have watched with forlorn eyes the various governments come and go, policies announced and ignored over the years.

This is the symbol of Telugu culture on the threshold of obscurity, be it in the dilution of its form, or the modernity and materialism distracting the new generation away from it. However, with the announcement of Natyaramam, hopes are rekindled for what can be called as foundation for a great future.

And Anand Kuchibhotla, who is now, spending most of his time in ‘Kuchipudi’ overlooking the various development works undertaken on behalf of the government and Silicon Andhra – does seem to be totally aware of the mammoth task ahead of him. He has worked in the US for over 27 years before deciding to come back and work for promoting the Telugu culture, and here is an opportunity of a lifetime. “My vision is clear,” he states.

Work in Progress
Currently the construction of the beautiful Pushkarini – the temple pond surrounded by wide steps just like in Madhurai is in full swing. “I hope to organise the next International Kuchipudi Convention here, in the village, and want to see Kuchipudi artistes dancing on these steps,” he reveals.

Among the various initiatives, a state-of-the-art digital library is on the anvil, where every bit of information will be available at the touch of a button. In addition, plans are afoot for a hall of fame with the who’s who that matter in any way to the traditional dance form and a tourism initiative to package the village as a part of destination AP – that can include the other religious and historic places in the vicinity like Movva, Ghantasala, Hamsaladeevi, among others. “I dream of a day that is not far away, when young dancers think it is important to come down to Kuchipudi for their ‘Gajjepuja’ – an invocation to learn dance,” says Anand.
‘Touch Wood!’
Dream of a model village
In addition to the Natyaramam works Silicon Andhra, with the help of the many NRIs who donated funds and a group of home-grown youngsters from within the village, set about the task of laying roads and completed almost half of the nearly 7.8 km of the village roads, especially in the SC/ST colonies. It has now approached the government that has released funds to complete the rest of the roads.

Silicon Andhra also took upon the task of building over 150 septic toilets in the colonies, modernised the Secondary School and facilitated the application for introducing the regular English medium SSC syllabus too in the school and helped in modernising the village bus stop and re-converted the dump yard into a small garden abetting the bus bay.

“Initially it was a tough task. No one had believed in what we said or trusted us. But it only took a little time; when they saw that here were no empty words and that work is being done swiftly, adhering to deadline promised, they came along with us. Many youngsters from the village volunteer for us in our ‘Swachh Kuchipudi’ initiative. The young village sarpanch Jairam and EO Rammohan Rao have been extremely supportive.

We also plan to start a 150-bed hospital, Sanjeevani in th e village. We are in the process of submitting the plans for approval. Many doctors in the US are ready to come here to volunteer their services. We hope to build the hospital with all the facilities, where people from surrounding areas can come too. The hospital will provide free medical care to the traditional dance families of the village for all generations to come.

We hope to employ the villagers in the hospital,” Anand shares his immediate plans. “Silicon Andhra has adopted the village. We want to make it a model village and very soon, will achieve this,” he says, even as he proudly showcases the work done so far. Dr Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry, Principal to the Kuchipudi wing of Telugu University is extremely positive, “I only wish that the good work is not hampered in any which way. It must be divine intervention that the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh thought of Kuchipudi dance and allotted funds for its upliftment. I am happy with the progress.”

Now, that the work has begun, and since all the stake holders - the torchbearers of Kuchipudi tradition, the gurus and the many senior and young dancers, who faithfully propagate the dance form, Silicon Andhra under the leadership of Kuchibhotla Anand, that refuses to leave any stone unturned to see the village and the dance form prosper, and the government of Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of CM Chandrababu Naidu,

who has promised all the support – have one common goal – the betterment of Kuchipudi; it does not seem so difficult to achieve, afterall. Hopefully, we shall soon realise the dream of a vibrant dance village reverberating with the echoes of anklet bells and the sonorous strains of music wafting in the air at the epicentre of tradition that we can all be proud of.