Kuchipudi Explained: Andhra Pradesh's Classical Dance-Drama

Kuchipudi is one of India's classical dance forms, and the easiest way to understand it is this: it began as theatre. Long before it became a solo stage art, it was dance-drama, with performers playing characters, speaking and singing their lines, and acting out stories from the epics and Puranas, often late into the night.

It takes its name from Kuchipudi, a village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, in the fertile delta country of the Krishna river. The village is still closely tied to the dance, and families there have passed it down for generations.

Where Kuchipudi came from

The Telugu region had a long tradition of dance-drama, with troupes staging stories through music, dance and dialogue. Kuchipudi grew out of this world. Its performers were traditionally Brahmin men from the village, known as Bhagavatulu, and men played the female roles too.

The figure most associated with shaping the tradition is Siddhendra Yogi, usually placed around the 17th century. Much of what we know about him comes from tradition and legend rather than firm records, so dates and details vary between sources. What everyone agrees on is his link to the form's most famous work.

Bhama Kalapam

Bhama Kalapam is a dance-drama about Satyabhama, one of Krishna's wives: her pride, her quarrel with Krishna, the pain of separation and her longing to be reunited with him. It is attributed to Siddhendra Yogi, and tradition holds that he had young men of the village vow to perform it, which kept it alive in their families.

Satyabhama's entrance is one of the best-known moments in Kuchipudi. She presents herself to the audience with great flair, and her long braid becomes a symbol of her beauty and pride. For the male performers of the past, playing Satyabhama convincingly was seen as a real test of skill.

From village drama to concert stage

In the 20th century, Kuchipudi changed a great deal. Gurus began to present solo pieces that could be performed on a city stage in an evening, and more and more women learned and performed it. Today most Kuchipudi dancers are women, and solo and group recitals are far more common than full-length dramas. Vempati Chinna Satyam, who taught for decades in Chennai, is one of the best-known names in this change, and a large number of well-known dancers trained under him or his students.

Kuchipudi is recognised as a classical dance by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy for music, dance and drama.

How Kuchipudi differs from Bharatanatyam

To a first-time viewer, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam can look alike. Both come from the south, use Carnatic music and similar-looking costumes, and share a vocabulary of hand gestures and footwork rooted in the same old ideas about performance, such as those in the Natya Shastra. Once you know what to look for, though, the differences stand out.

The voice is the biggest giveaway. In a Kuchipudi drama, a character may pause, speak a line in Telugu, sing a verse and then return to dancing. This use of speech and song, alongside the face, body and costume, is a large part of why Kuchipudi feels so theatrical.

Treat these as tendencies, not hard walls. Styles vary between schools and individual dancers, and the two forms have influenced each other over the years.

Tarangam: the dance on a brass plate

The piece most people remember is the tarangam. The dancer stands on the raised rim of a brass plate and dances on it, moving the plate across the stage with the feet while keeping exact time with the music. Sometimes the dancer also balances a small pot of water on the head or holds lamps in the hands.

The tarangam takes its name and verses from the Krishna Leela Tarangini, a Sanskrit work on Krishna's life by the poet Narayana Teertha. It's a display of balance and control, but it isn't meant to be a mere stunt. The dance still has to follow the music and the mood of the verse, and the face keeps telling the story while the feet do the hard work.

How to watch a performance as a beginner

You don't need to know the hand gestures or the language to enjoy Kuchipudi. A little preparation helps, though.

1. Listen to the introduction. Most recitals announce each item with a short explanation of its story. Knowing that the next piece is about Satyabhama's jealousy, or a child Krishna stealing butter, changes how you see every gesture.
2. Know the three layers. Nritta is pure dance: rhythm, footwork and patterns, with no story. Nritya adds expression, with the face and hands showing the meaning of the song. Natya is drama, with character and dialogue. Kuchipudi moves between all three and leans on natya more than many other forms.
3. Watch the face and eyes. The story is told there as much as in the feet. A good dancer can play both sides of a conversation with the eyes alone.
4. Follow the rhythm. In fast passages, the footwork and ankle bells play along with the mridangam and the spoken rhythm syllables. Notice how the dancer lands exactly on the end of a phrase.
5. Expect a prayer first. Recitals usually open with an invocation, often to Ganesha, before the main items.

A few etiquette points

• Arrive before it starts. Walking in during an item distracts the dancer and everyone around you.
• Silence your phone and never use flash. Many venues don't allow photography at all, so check first.
• Clap at the end of an item rather than in the middle, unless the audience around you clearly applauds a striking passage, as often happens during a tarangam.

Where to see Kuchipudi

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Kuchipudi turns up at cultural festivals, temple events, dance-school annual days and recitals in cities like Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. It is also part of the December music and dance season in Chennai. Kuchipudi village itself has a dance institution named after Siddhendra Yogi, and many dancers visit the village to connect with the roots of the form.

Event listings change all the time, so check with AP Tourism, the Andhra Pradesh government's culture department, the Sangeet Natak Akademi and local cultural organisations and sabhas for upcoming performances. Dance-school annual days, which are often open to the public, are a relaxed way to see Kuchipudi for the first time.

If you can see only one piece, try to make it a Bhama Kalapam excerpt or a tarangam. Between the two, you'll see both sides of Kuchipudi: the actor and the dancer.