Day Four Kuchipudi

Undoubtedly, the star of today's show was the five year old Lakshmi Kameshwari, who is the grand daughter of Guru Vempati. She had no fear of the stage and just picked up the steps by watching. She insisted on wearing a long plait, I heard before the show, and when she danced the tarangam on a little plate suited to her size, she was clearly enjoying holding the plait the way the older dancers do!

Rathna Papa Kumar used a very innovative way to show the older adavu saamu before Vempati Garu expanded the basic ideas and created a whole method of teaching Kuchipudi. She asked Keshav Prasad, one of Vempati Sir's oldest students to show the audience the earlier version while simultaneously Srimayi performed the newer version, side  by side. It was a great way to showcase the abhyaasa sampradaya.

I was touched to see the devotion Vempati Garu's students have for him, the way they offered this lecture demonstration as a homage to his ideals of dance and the impact his teaching has had on them. Madhavapeddi Murthy and Mosalikanti Kishore are very senior students of Guru Garu who are keeping his flag flying.

The days seem to have flown by and tomorrow is the last dance demonstration, for their is a group discussion on the 31st. I was very happy with the audience response today, and hope it will be even better tommorrow.

Shantha

Report in the Hindu Online on Day Three