The festival celebrates International Dance Day (April 29) with unique performances by young dancers

Hyderabad-based Kuchipudi Meetup group has planned ‘Samarambham’ a three-day virtual dance festival (April 28-30) on Instagram to celebrate International Dance Day on April 29. “We are trying to dance through this storm too,” shares Kuchipudi dancer and researcher Lalitha Sindhuri referring to the COVID -29 crisis.

Staying positive

With 11 dancers taking part, the festival promises to be a first-of-its kind celebration of Kuchipudi on a virtual platform. “During these difficult times of a global pandemic, artistes are suffering due to cancelled performances and classes. We are being positive and utilising the time best by dancing.”

Organisers Lalitha Sindhuri and her friends Srilekhya and Venkata Gangadhar | Photo Credit: By arrangement

Launched in 2019 by Lalitha and her friends Srilekhya and Venkata Gangadhar, Kuchipudi Meetup aims to bring a sense of community among Kuchipudi dancers and to progress collectively. The dancers usually meet once in two weeks to practice basics and creatively explore the adugulu of different schools of Kuchipudi. “Dancing without getting judgemental and dancing only for the sake of dancing was our main idea. With different gurus, there are many different styles but we do not differentiate between them. In fact, we explore the adugulu of every guru and depict those ideas.”

Participating dancers Amrita Lahiri Avijit Das Reddi Lakshmi Pranamya Suri Lalitha Sindhuri Anjali Kowligi Krishna Sannidha Gangadhar Yamini Kalluri Vedya Spurthi Ala Venugopal

The Meetup has expanded its horizon with two new series — Studio Showcase performances and ‘Vignana’ series (talks by research scholars in dance).

‘Short and crisp’ is the motto of Samarambham; Everyday, between 5 pm and 7 pm, three dancers perform for half an hour each and explore their own ideas. Confined indoors durng the lockdown, there are practical challenges regarding space. Lalitha explains, “We face angle restrictions as we have to dance within a restricted space to make it easy for the phone camera to capture the posture.”

In-depth

Lalitha has, in fact, started another series on Instagram (@lalithasindhuri) called ‘Adhyaya’ where she discusses different topics with fellow research scholars. Her recent talk was with Santosh G Nair, a research scholar in dance from Liverpool, London on the topic: ‘Reflection on two faces of the Indian Dance: Scientific and Spiritual.’

Lalitha also hopes to create a guru series online. “We have great teachers in Kuchipudi but there is nothing online. We have seen that gurus who are not comfortable with technology are also using it now. I hope to bring gurus to these virtual shows and ask them to speak or dance— whatever they are comfortable with — and spread the knowledge.”