Tick Tock

Time is rushing by. It feels like just yesterday I arrived in India but I have completed more than half my Fulbright. I feel happy with my experiences in here so far but, unsatisfied with the amount of work I have done. Slowly the pace is picking up. There is a lot to catch up on in the last few months.

Kuchipudi Village
In November, I got the chance to visit Kuchipudi village, where the dance form really flourished for the last couple centuries. It was great to visit the birthplace of Kuchipudi, but the trip also brought to light the pathetic state of the village presently. There are many great gurus who live in the town, most very old and unable to carry on a proper interview. These people possess so much knowledge but seem to be in no state to pass it on to the next generation. What upset me the most was that there was an excellent facility built recently to teach Kuchipudi. When I visited the school and spoke with the teachers I found out there were only a handful of students in such a large facility. In fact, the dorms were completely empty. It saddened me to see such a good facility go to waste. I will definitely write a post soon about the village specifically, and include some pictures.

Kuchipudi Convention
In December, we had the International Kuchipudi Convention; a MEGA event that attracted over 5000 in delegates. Being in Hyderabad, I could not pass up the opportunity to go so I was one of these delegates. The shows during the conference were average. Different dance schools were given 15 min each and they wanted to throw all their students on stage, due to this attitude the quality was reduced greatly. I performed with my Guru Dr. Uma Rama Rao and 5 other students of hers. To be honest, I was not very impressed with our program either, as it was thrown together at the last minute. There was a huge list of  lecture demonstrations and many of them sounded interesting. Unfortunately, of the few I attended, many of them were in Telugu and though I consider myself a fluent speaker in Telugu, I could not follow them. Many of the lectures I attended that I could follow were presented by people that I know personally, most of which I attended due to obligation. I am hoping that the video compilation of the lec-dems will provide more insight into the world of Kuchipudi. The conference was overall a grand sucess because a significant portion of the delegates were kids from nearby villages and they had the opportunity to attend such a large and lavish event. I do believe this is a childhood memory many of them will cherish. I think the convention was most successful in motivating and inspiring these children to continue dancing. This is essential for Kuchipudi to survive in the future generations.