Sarada Nori's Kuchipudi Dancers
The Setting
The afternoon was pleasant, the stage at Holy Trinity fromt steps was set, and after artistic director Sarada Nori described some of the finer points of the art of Kuchipudi and its musical accompaniment, we were treated to a near-professional-level dance performance!
The Dancers
Dressed in bright-colored sari costumes, beautiful hair adornments of faux jasmine and other flowers, shining gold earrings and bangles, and jingle-bell anklets that provided a backbeat for the dancers. They were not only adorable, they were well trained, perfectly synchronized, with professional demeanor and composure. They were great!
The Rain Shower
In keeping with their training and commitment, when a few drops of rain and dark clouds threatened, everybody--dancers and audience, moved into the sanctuary of Holy Trinity Church, reset the stage, rewired the sound, regrouped, and went on with the show! Thank you all for your extra effort.
The Ensemble's Development
Artistic director Sarada Nori developed her Kuchipudi ensemble to provide families from India--particularly South India, with a way to exhibit this aspect of the long cultural history of India, which goes back thousands of years. It has especially attracted their young daughters born in America, and they are the ones showcased in Sunday's performance, along with a few more mature dancers, too.
The Cultural Tradition
If you haven't heard the word Kuchipudi before, you're not alone. Kuchipudi is a much-loved, traditional Indian form of dance that originated in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It's a dance-drama, a form of dance that tells a story, usually a story of Hindu gods or goddesses and their many escapades--sometimes from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana--the best known epics of ancient India.
This viewer greatly enjoyed seeing the lovely dancers and hopes to see many more performances from this outstanding Kuchipudi dance troop in churches, schools, and temples all around Connecticut!
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