CULTURE

Raja and Radha Reddy impress
By Asha Ahuja

LUDHIANA, Sept 21 — Raja and Radha Reddy, exponents of Kuchipudi, gave a duet performance today, at Government College for Girls and displayed their mastery over the dance form. They are disciples of Guru Vedantam Prahlad Sarma.

Before starting their performance, Raja Reddy addressed the students and said, ‘‘we are here among you to tell you about our rich cultural tradition. Whatever you may be come in life, always be proud of your roots, and your heritage. Dance is a poetic expression and it speaks through rhythm, gestures and facial expressions. This creative form has come down to us from our sages.’’

There are six major classical dance forms in India and Kuchipudi is one of these. It is a dance form of Andhra Pradesh. Raja Reddy explained how the founder of Kuchipudi, Sidhant Yogi, had settled in a barren piece of land centuries ago. In 1678, the Nawab of Golconda saw his disciples dance. Pleased with the dance movements, he granted them land for agriculture and a school. The group would till the land during the day and practise dance at night. That is how Kuchipudi village developed. Kalakshetra, the most famous school of Kuchipudi, exists there.

Raja Reddy said, ‘‘Good health and sustenance of your body, free from pain, is called ‘sukham’. Mental peace is ‘shanti’ and to experience bliss from within is ‘ananda’. The get ‘sukham’, ‘shanti’ and ‘ananda’, God has given us three paths: a) karamyog b) bhav c) ananda. Dance is the medium through which one can achieve all three; so I hold dance superior to all other forms of art.’’

Bhaskra Rao gave accompaniment to Raja Reddy on mridangam. When Lord Shiva performed ‘tandav’, Lord Vishnu had played the mridangam and Lord Brahma gave beats on cymbals. These two instruments are as old as mythology. Raja Reddy displayed ‘jugalbandi’ between foot movements and cymbals.

All our classical dances begin with a prayer to the Lord. Radha Reddy invoked God’s blessings before their performance. She displayed the 72 primary steps in Kuchipudi.

Raja Reddy showed various gestures and asked the students to interpret them. With one hand, he could show 24 gestures and many more with both hands — as perfectly as if he were speaking. The aim of Spicmacay to promote Indian culture among students succeeded admirably well. Raja Reddy depicted anger, joy, sadness just by the tilt of his head and eye movements. He also depicted a story through gestures. A big tusker goes to a pond to drink water. Radha is the crocodile and Raja the elephant in the story. A terrible fight ensues between the two. Finally the crocodile wins and the elephant dies.

Tandav nritya was also performed by Raja Reddy with skill and dexterity much to the delight of the audience which applauded wildly.

In ‘Union with the Universal’, Radha Reddy as Krishna’s Radha weaves a garland of flowers for the Lord and garlands him. In the last sequence, she surrenders herself to the Lord. it was, a remarkable piece as she showed all these movements with her eyes and hands only.

The last item was Kuchipudi nritya in which both of them performed standing on the edges of a ‘parat’. They moved in perfect harmony and rhythm. The ‘jugalbandi’ between the dancers ‘ghungroos’ and the ‘bols’ of the vocalist, Raj Gopal, was superb.