Kuchipudi Ballet By Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant & Group: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR KUCHIPUDI BALLET BY DR....

On the occasion of its 40th Annual Cultural Festival of Music, Dance & Drama, Kalasagaram is organising a grand music, dance and drama festival for 9 days, from 23rd November to 1st December, at the Keyes High School campus. Eminent musicians such as saxophonist Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, vocalists Sudha Raghunathan, the Priya Sisters, Trichur V Ramachandran and T V Sankaranarayanan, flautist Dr N Ramani, and two Tamil dramas Vaasthu Vasu and Plastic Kadavul by United Visuals from Chennai, will be part of the 9-day treat.

Today, the 3rd day of the festival, one of the country's best Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer, Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant, will present a Kuchipudi dance ballet, Sri Rama Namam - Entha Ruchi Raa, along with her troupe of disciples.

A choreographer who needs no introduction, Ananda has directed and presented six path-breaking dance ballets including Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Buddham Saranam Gachchami, Dancing Tales... Panchatantra, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. She graduated in Bharatanatyam from the world renowned Kalakshetra, and learnt Kuchipudi from Pasumarti Ramalinga Sastry. She is a top-graded artiste of Doordarshan and an established artiste of the ICCR, featuring in many dance festivals in India and abroad.

Among her innumerable awards, the prestigious Kalaimamani award of the Tamil Nadu government in Nov 2003 for her contributions as a Bharatanatyam dancer, the Nritya Choodamani from Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in Dec 2006 and the Padmasri in March 2007 rank foremost. She is the director and architect of the famous dance academy Shankarananda Kalakshetra.

Kalasagaram is a South-Indian cultural association situated in the East Nehru Nagar of East Marredpally, and has been organising Carnatic music concerts for the last 40 years. The concerts are usually held in the Keyes High School campus at the open-air theater. The singers are generally from outside Hyderabad, usually amateurs and upcoming artistes, and quite competent. Kalasagaram also occasionally stages South-Indian classical dances and Tamil plays.

The entry is by invitations for members, season passes of Rs. 400, Rs. 300 & Rs. 200 per head and daily passes of Rs. 100, Rs. 50 and Rs. 25 per head for others. Please contact V Rajagopal, General Secretary of Kalasagaram, at 2773-1775 for further details.