Renowned dancer Nataraja Ramakrishna, who took Kuchipudi dance to a new height in the country, passed away at Hyderabad on Tuesday after prolonged illness. He was 88.
Nataraja Ramakrishna was the architect of the revival of Andhra Natyam, a devotional temple dance tradition performed in Andhra Pradesh for over 400 years until virtually extinct.
He was also instrumental in reviving Perini dance, the most popular and aggressive dance form developed during the Kakatiya regime in Warangal. His “Bhamaa Kalaapam” has brought him thousands of devotees from across the world, the prominent among them being Kala Krishna.
A former chairman of Andhra Pradesh Sangeeta Nataka Academy, Ramakrishna was born in a noble family of Andhras in Bali in 1933. He left his family and property for the love of art since he father did not approve of it. Spending his boyhood in Ramakrishna Math at Madras and Mahatma Gandhi's ashram, Ramakrishna came in touch with great gurus like Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, Vedantam Laxminarayana Sastry, Smt Naidupeta Rajamma and Pendyala Satyabhama under whom he learnt various forms of art.
The turning point in his life was his dance performance before the royal assembly consisting of scholars, poets, art critics and the elite of Nagpur city. Since then he learnt various languages and dance and music forms and became an erudite scholar in sastras and a linguist in five languages. Later, Ramakrishna took up the task of propagating Kuchipudi, the great divine art of Andhra Pradesh, which soon spread all over the state. He established Nrityaniketan in 1955 at Hyderabad to impart training.
He has written more than 40 books, many of them highly awarded, and his contribution to the art of dance is widely recognized. With his innumerable performances, lecture demonstrations and through his extensive travels he has created an awareness not only of Kuchipudi dance, but also revived the lost and forgotten dance forms of Andhra Pradesh, like Chindu Yakshaganam of Telangana, Tappetagallu of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts, Veera Natyam and Garagalu of East and West Godavari districts, Devadasi dance and dance tradition of temples performing Adhyatma Ramayana. He also helped and encouraged fold dance artistes like Dommaras, Guravayyalu, Urumulu and Veedi Bhagavatulu.
