Akademi award for AP maestro
Family dedicated to Kuchipudi
Dance exponent Vedantam Ramalinga Sastry received the news of the Sangeet Natak Akademi selecting him for its prestigious award at the most fitting moment: When he was immersed in work for the International Kuchipudi dance festival at Hyderabad, on Monday.
Mr Sastry, principal of the Sri Siddendra Yogi Kuchipudi Kalapeetham, said that it was an honour and recognition for 20 years of service to Kuchipudi.
Speaking to this newspa- per, the maestro said he was happy to win the award, which was the ultimate honour for an artiste.
Mr Sastry holds a PhD for his critical analysis, While Ramalinga Sastry’s wife Venkata Durgabhavani finetunes his writing and plays the nattuvangam, his sons, Satya Phani Krishna Dattu and Vagdevi Prasad, accompany him in ballets Nataka Vikasam. He has been instrumental in developing 80 Kuchipudi ballets and among them, 50 have been performed so far.
His family is also dedicat- ed to the dance form. His wife Venkata Durgabhavani finetunes his writings and accompanies him on the Nattuvangam. His two sons, Satya Phani Krishna Dattu and Vagdevi Prasad, accompany him in Kuchipudi ballets by portraying different roles.
Important dance ballets of Mr Sastry include Sri Krishna Vijayam, Vinayaka Chaviti, Srinivasa Kalyanam, Nartanasala, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Gajananeeyam. He set up the Kuchipudi Kalaparishat in 1984 and trained several Kuchipudi artistes.