The story is romantic, and when it is performed as a yakshagana by disciples of Pasumarthi Venugopala Rao, it would be more so for all the Kuchipudi enthusiasts out there. And when the disciples happen to be Alekhya and Ananda Shankar, the experience is ecstatic even as a thought.
It needn't be just a thought for long - it's happening today, and you can expect it to be a greater than normal experience since Alekhya has just been through a workshop by the doyen of yakshaganas. The Kuchipudi dance drama is being conducted by Rasa, the organization started by Alekhya and Ananda in February of last year. Rasa was formed to bring together the best of music, dance and other fine art productions to Hyderabad, and with a launch through a 3-day series of performances by Anita Ratnam, Alekhya and Ananda on 8th, 9th and 10th of February of 2000, it made a good start.
Rasa has also organized performances by Navtej Singh Johar (Bharatanatyam) and Mangala and Raghava Raj Bhatt (Kathak) since. This will be the 4th performance, and is being conducted as the celebration of the 1st anniversary of Rasa.
Please contact Alekhya at the Telugu University (324-0225 / 324-0226 / 323-4676) for further details.