The Power of Drama, The Poetry of Dance : Kuchipudi (DVD Only)

Contents: 1. Usha Parinayam/Radha and Raja Reddy. 2. Shiva Leela/Radha and Raja Reddy. 3. Marakatha Manimaya/Sobha Naidu. 4. Bhama Kalapam/Vedantam Satya Narayana Sarma. 5. Dasavatara Sabdam/Vyjayanti Kashi. 6. Annamacharya Keertanam/Ratna Kumar. 7. Jathiswaram/Swapnasundari. 8. Kshetrayya Padam/Swapnasundari.

"Kuchipudi is one of the most popular Classical Dance forms of India. It derives many of its present day features from the earlier dance-drama traditions of Andhra Pradesh, a region extending from South-Central through South Eastern India. Telugu is the main language spoken here and is therefore, employed in the accompanying Lyrics for Kuchipudi, along with Sanskrit. The music follows the Carnatic (South Indian Classical) style although a number of regional trends (Prakriyas) are often employed in delineating the Ragas. 

The cultural history of Andhra Pradesh can boast of witnessing the energetic artistic expression of its people, through its varied performing traditions. Some of these were: The dances of the consecrates female temple dancers, the Bhagavatam group traditions of male Brahmin and other community dancer-actors, the Daylight Theatre Tradition, the balladeer traditions and so on. Out of these, the most enduring has been the Bhagavatam of the Male Brahmins which has evolved into present day Kuchipudi. During this process, it has interacted with and absorbed elements from parallel traditions and has, perhaps contributed to some of these....."