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HOME NATARAJA CLASSICAL DANCES FOLK DANCES
PREFACE | BHARATANATYAM | CHHAU | KATHAK | KATHAKALI | KUCHIPUDI | MANIPURI | MOHINIATTAM | ORISSI | SATRIYA | YAKSHAGANA
KUCHIPUDI
Kuchipudi Behind a beautiful curtain held by two persons, Satyabhama enters the stage with her back to the audience. In Bhama Kalapam, Satyabhama is Vipralamba Nayaki, i.e., the heroine who is deceived by her lover and dejected by his absence.

The most popular Kuchipudi dance is the pot dance in which a dancer keeps a pot filled with water on her head and feet kept on a brass plate. She moves on the stage manipulating the brass plate, with the feet kept on its rim and doing some hand movements without spilling a drop of water on the ground thus astounding the audience.

The make up and costumes are characteristic of the art. There is nothing elaborate in the costumes and the makeup is not so heavy. The important characters have different make up and the female characters wear ornaments and jewelry such as Rakudi (head ornament), Chandra Vanki (arm ornament), Adda Bhasa and Kasina Sara (neck ornament) and a long plait decorated with flowers and jewelry.


The music in Kuchipudi is classical Karnatic. The mridanga, violin and a clarinet are the common instruments employed as accompaniment.


Today Kuchipudi has undergone many changes. The present day dancers having advanced training in Kuchipudi style, present this art in their own various individual ways. There are presently only two melams, or professional troupes of male performers. The bulk of the dancers are woman. In its present day dispensation, Kuchipudi has come to be reduced from a dance drama to a dance, from an uplifting theatre experience to a routine stage affair.