The Sangeet Natak Academy will produce an audio-visual archive on Yakshaganas of the Kuchipudi classical dance to be preserved at the National Achieves of India.
Accordingly, renowned Kuchipudi dancers will present at least nine Yakshaganas and two Kapalams for documenting the genres. The one-week programme will begin on February 23 at Kuchipudi village, producing video and audio archives on the lives of artisans. Panel discussions will also be conducted as part of the initiative.
The Yakshaganas to be archived in the dance village include ‘Sashirekha Parinayam’ by Pasumarthy Ramalinga Sastry and ‘Mohini Basmasura’ by Chinta Ravi Balakrishna. The two living legends, Pasumarthy Rattayya Sarma and Vedantam Radheshyam, will present ‘Usha Parinayam’ and ‘Golla Kapalam’, respectively.
This apart, Sangeet Natak Academy Secretary Helen Archarya will interact with the living legends of the dance village, whose glorious history has not been archived till date. The Department of Culture and Narthanam , a journal on Indian classical dances, will join the Academy to execute the prestigious ‘Natyaramam’ project. “The one-week exercise of documenting the dance form is open to public. Anybody can be present during the performances and lecture demonstrations,” Natyaramam chairman K. Anand said.
He added that archiving rare performances was an attempt to preserve the dance form as well as the cultural heritage of the village. Deputy Speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad and Minister of Culture Palle Raghunadha Reddy will attend the inaugural session.
