Kuchipudi took its birth in a village named Kuchipudi which is about 60KM from Vijayawada, Krishna Dist of Andhra Pradesh.
Siddhendra Yogi who is believed to belong to the 13th century CE is the moola purusha of the Kuchipudi dance form.
He composed the famed Bhamakalapam & taught it to many of his disciples.
Having viewed the impressive Bhamakapalam, the then Nizam gifted Kuchipudi agraharam to the performers. Thus the dance form gained prominance in the name of Kuchipudi.
In it’s earliest form, Kuchipudi was performed as dance drama where in the artists would render the stories from the epics, accompanied with elaborate vocal & instrumental music.
Siddhendra Yogi propagated this art among few selected disciples & made this be carried out as a heriditary parampara.
More than a dozen such families came to be known as bhagavathulu as they would perform the renditions praising the eulogies of Bhagavantha.
No amount of praise is high enough for the selfless service by these bhagavathula families in mastering this art, performing, popularising and spreading it far & wide.
Apart from the mastery of Kuchipudi, the Kuchipudi bhagavathulu gained profeciency in music, literature, veda, purana & shastra’s. For a few of them, agriculture was their mainstay.
The Kuchipudi bhagavathulu would travel across in groups and showcase this art.
Over a period of time, Kuchipudi evolved into two distinct forms based on the objective & subject of the performance – Naatyamela & Natvamela.
Naatyamela is the category that dedicated to enlightening the masses about Bhagavanta.
Natvamela is the category where the performances were inclined towards entertainment in the Kings court & as part of the temple courtesans.
The Natvamela performers would get tutored under the Naatyamela teachers.
The Kuchipudi Natyamela developed & evolved through Rupakalu, Kalapalu, Kelikalu, Yakshaganalu, Nruthyanatakalu before gaining prominance as a solo dance form.
Kuchipudi is recognized as one of the 8 classical dance forms of India.
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