Pittsburgh witnessed an interesting lecture demonstration on Kuchupudi - 'Nupuradhwani' by Sathyapriya Ramana, a disciple of Dr.Vempatti Chinna Satyam, held from March 23 to 25, 2006.
Students, enthusiasts, rasikas and dancers forgot the bitter cold weather and danced the basics of Kuchupudi with rapt attention. The three-day workshop held in Squirrel hill, a predominantly student area, introduced Kuchupudi to the novice.
Sathyapriya runs Narthana Saala in Chennai for the last 15 years and has performed in India, USA, Russia and Europe. She is currently the visiting professor for Kuchupudi dance in Washington DC.
Talking to Mridula Anand, who runs the Silambam Dance school at Pittsburgh, Sathyapriya enthusiastically describes her students in the US. “Students seem to be so enthusiastic to learn new art forms. Sometimes my classes extend for hours when everyone is working hard on learning new pieces!”
The first day of the Pittsburgh workshop started with the students introducing themselves. Their backgrounds were as varied as their interests! Norman heard about the workshop from his friend and he has been learning belly dance for many years. Says he, "The dance seems to have such definite movements and steps and is so very different from what I have learn". Sathyapriya also talked about the differences between Kuchupudi and Bharatanatyam, explaining the various hand gestures and paadabedaah used in Kuchupudi, when questioned by Shruthi, a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh.
The students not only got to hear about Kuchupudi but also got a chance to dance it! They were introduced to some of the commonly used adavus in three speeds.
“I’m never going to complain about thatta adavu in Bharatanatyam, after dancing today!” exclaimed Aarti, a student of Silambam, Pittsburgh.
The third day of workshop was held in a dance hall and the students got to perform a piece in kuchupudi. This was taken from the dance drama ‘Gangavatharanam’, a dance ballet choreographed by Sathyapriya Ramana.
Ruchi Desai, an engineering student from CMU had never learnt any form of Indian dance. After attending the workshop, she thought she might seriously consider learning an art form.
Sathyapriya enjoyed her Pittsburgh trip and the classes too. As for her US trip, this is her third and she plans to be back soon in 2007.
Email:
For more information, contact Mridula Anand at Silambam, PA 15217.
Email: mridu@stanfordalumni.org
