Kuchipudi: a tale of artistes’ struggle for survival
Kuchipudi is a dancedrama performance which used to be confined to men in the olden days. The evolution of the dance began from being a ‘male dance’ to a classical dance with the dominance of women dancers across India
Every middleaged artiste in Kuchipudi, a village in Krishna district, fondly reminisces how, in their childhood days in the 1980s, children would perform a dancedrama in the evenings in the front yard of their houses to the songs rendered by women, mostly their mothers.
This remains a cherished memory of every person, belonging to the families of gurus, including Mruthyunjaya Sarma, a trained dancer in Kuchipudi, one of the nine classical forms of dance in the country.
“These days, such sights have become obsolete because the younger generation is least interested in continuing the legacy,” says Mruthyanjaya Sarma, a dance teacher in Hyderabad who had come to the village during the the annual festival of Goddess Bala Tripuraneni Sundari Kalyanam at Kuchipudi village in March.
Kuchipudi is a dancedrama performance which used to be confined to men in the olden days. Dressing up as famous characters from the Hindu mythologies, the men would spread the message contained in these among the people.
The evolution of the dance began from a ‘all male’ performance to dance including women in the lead following the dominance of women dancers across India. In South India, women began to patronize the classical dance after it was popularised by Padmabhushan award winner Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam through his Chennaibased Kuchipudi Art Academy.
Even as the gurus and dancers were worried about waning interest among youngsters, the village received a body blow in 2020 when the pandemic struck.The dance form, which was already going through a tough phase due to lack of patronage from the Andhra Pradesh government, lost six gurus in the pandemic years.
With their guiding light gone, Mr. Mruthyunjaya Sarma and seven other dancers in the village, some of whom were settled outside Kuchipudi village, had to take on the mantle of keeping the dance form alive.
There are four gurus, all in their 70s, left, two of which have moved elsewhere for their medical treatment. “We are the last generation of youngsters professionally trained in Kuchipudi in our families. Children in our families and village are not interested in it anymore. Partly because they know there is no future for them in this field and partly because they have not grown up in an environment that would pique their interest. Governments and educational institutes are also to be blamed for the situation we are in,” he says.
Explaining, he added that the Andhra Pradesh government has failed in creating any opportunities for them. “There are eight Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardees in the village. But what do we do with these awards? Most of us, including me, are settled outside because there are neither cultural programmes nor job opportunities in the village,” Mr. Mruthyunjaya Sarma adds.
The award is given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi to outstanding artistes, aged under 40, in the fields of music, drama and dance.
Vedantam Balakrishna, another teacher and also a Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awardee, says the government’s responsibility does not end with awarding the talented.
“They need to create opportunities for us by inviting us to perform in cultural programmes. The State government, too, must set up more music and dance institutes in the village so that we do not have to look for income sources outside. It is sad to note that Kuchipudi is given more importance by people outside the State and country than it receives here,” Mr. Balakrishna says.
As of now, the village has only one institute, Siddhendra Yogi Kalapeetham, affiliated with the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Hyderabad. There are only three posts here, says Mr. Balakrishna, who teaches here. This institute also was set up by Kuchipudi exponents when they felt the need for a centre where they can teach and perform.
The State government had promised to them that a Natyaramam — an open centre where dancers from across the country can perform — will be constructed soon. But like other projects in the village, this too is in limbo.
“It was the dream of my father and Kuchipudi exponent Keshav Prasad to invite artistes to the village and give them a platform to perform. Since Natyaramam did not fructify, we are setting up a temporary dais during festivals and inviting artistes from across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” Mr. Mruthyunjaya Sarma said.
The other dream of the gurus, young disciples and the entire fraternity of Kuchipudi dance is to see the tiny village of Kuchipudi declared a ‘heritage village’ of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is the only Indian classical dance that has been named after a village, the village in Krishna district has the sacred river Krishna flows alongside.
“In Kuchipudi village, above one hundred families are still associated with the classical dance that has been handed over from one generation to another through GuruSishya Parampara tradition. Irrespective of gender, every household has a dancer,” said Vedantam Radheshyam.
Mr. Radheshyam, who is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, is based in Kuchipudi village where he grooms young dancers.
“Our village is unique in many ways in India. It deserves to be declared as a Heritage Village. If it gets the heritage tag, there is hope that the dancers who left the village in search of greener pastures will come back to promote it from the village itself,” said Mr. Radheshyam.
It is 2024 and Andhra Pradesh still does not have a single heritage village. In 2000, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) declared Raghurajpur as a ‘Heritage village’ for preserving the Pattachitra art in Odisha State.
In the 1977 cyclone that hit the Diviseema region in Krishna district, the village lost valuable literature and various archives on the art and its journey.
Change in course
In Nadi Street of Kuchipudi village, a house of Guru Chinta Venkata Ramayya still exists and it once witnessed the rise of Kuchipudi Yakshaganam — a dance drama. Guru Venkata Ramayya (18601949) is the father of Kuchipudi Yakshaganam and promoted this format till he took his last breath.
Natyakalanidhi Vedantam Lakshminarayana Sastry (18861956) is the guru who introduced girls into Kuchipudi dance. He was also the guru who encouraged female dancers to perform on the stage. He was the father of solo dance performances.
The 41yearold Akhila Bharata Kuchipudi Natya Kala Mandali (ABKNKM), a brainchild of Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam, has been credited with inviting dancers from other Indian classical dances to perform in the Kuchipudi village to celebrate the diversity of Indian classical dances.
In 2016, ABKNKM Founder Secretary Pasumarthy Kesava Prasad told The Hindu in an interview, “Our first motto is to encourage a Kuchipudi dancer from anywhere in the world to perform it here in the village temple”. Born in 1952, Mr. Kesava Prasad succumbed to COVID19 in 2021.
A lifetime dream
It is still a dream for every Kuchipudi dancer from across the country to dance here at Sri Bala Tripura Sundari temple once in their lifetime, only to be reviewed by the Kuchipudi Gurus and dance aficionados.
At present, there are a few places that are associated with the Kuchipudi dance and deserve to be conserved — the house of Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam and ABKNKM office and the statues of dance Gurus.
Between 201418, the Sangeet Natak Akademi in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh State government has archived the audio, video and photos of Kuchipudi Yakshaganas. Guru Pasumarthy Rattaiah Sarma, a doyen of Yakshaganas, is the oldest Guru living in the Kuchipudi village.
INTACHMachilipatnam Chapter Convener S. V. S. Krishna Rao told The Hindu, “We will seriously pursue research on the possibilities to recommend Kuchipudi village to be declared as a heritage village.”