Mahakavi Sri Sri is an icon and his persona emerges from nearly every literary or art essay, and it is an opportunity for us to pay him tribute through a ballet, says choreographer of the ballet and secretary of Sri KRKM Memorial Academy of Fine Arts K. Vijayalakshmi.
“Mahakavi Sri Sri is ingrained in our lives, and people who have read Sri Sri will not tolerate any variation or adaptation. We started performing the ballet on the Mahakavi from his centenary year and have been performing it every year. After bifurcation of the State, we felt it would be appropriate to play it in the place of his birth, and we are happy that we could perform a day after his birth anniversary and also on the May Day — the celebration of the working class — the subject closest to the heart of the Mahakavi,” Ms. Vijayalakshmi explained.
“We are grateful to the Department of Language and Culture for having sponsored our ballet for the Weekend Cultural Festival in the city, that too on May Day,” she said.
The one-and-a-half-hour programme is a theme-based ballet choreographed in the styles of Kuchipudi, folk, and contemporary, including a few drama sequences.
Digital presentation
This includes a digital presentation on Mahakavi Sri Sri and a commentary in between.
The ballet is based on a few poems from ‘Mahaprasthanam’, ‘Khadga Srusthi’, and a few of his French translations.
“It has been designed to connect with the audience, and in many ways would be contemporary while retaining the traditional values,” the director of the show said.
It was performed by 30 artistes who travelled from Hyderabad for the programme at Vaisakhi Kalavedika at VUDA Park.
Golden Nandi
The troupe has bagged the Golden Nandi for best educational telefilm for their ballet, Telugu Prasasthi, which narrates the three millennia history of Telugu language with projection of images of archaeological evidence.
