GUNTUR:l South Zone Culture Centre in collaboration with District Administration and Department of Kannada and Culture of Karnataka invited Challa Bala Tripura Sundari to perform Kuchipudi dance at a festival from October 10 to 19 in Mysore. The assistant director of Department of Kannada and Culture invited the dancer to perform on October 13, 14 and 15.
Ch Bala Tripura Sundari chose to be a Kuchipudi dancer even as a well paying career awaited her after she completed M Sc (Computer Science). Born in 1989 in Tenali, she began training from 1992 and her ‘arangretam’ (debut) took place in 1995. After that, she never looked back.
She completed diploma courses in ‘Yaksha Gana’ and ‘Kuchipudi’ and Intermediate simultaneously. While pursuing graduation from Acharya Nagarjuna University, she won the first prize in Kuchipudi dance for three years consecutively.
Soon after, she won the gold medal in creative dance performance in South Zone Inter University competitions and this gave her career a much-needed boost. When Sundari was selected to work for a software company, she denied the offer in order to concentrate on her passion. Her parents supported her decision wholeheartedly. She gave several stunning performances in India and abroad and received many awards such as Natya Mayuri award in All-India dance competitions, Nrutya Kowmudi award-2009, Nartanaveeri-2001 in the last decade.
Her parents are her strength as they always motivated her to take up dance as her career. At the time when Bala Tripura Sundari was four, she was unwell for some days and her mother encouraged her to get up from her bed and dance if she wanted to feel better. When she actually did, she became healthy again so her parents encouraged her to continue learning dance.
Dream comes true
Bala Tripura Sundari said it was her dream to dance at Mysore Maharaja Palace during the Dasara festival and it had come true with the blessing of her parents. Her parents are her strength as they always motivated her to take up dance as a career. She currently works as dance teacher at a Government School in Tenali. She also trains children in Kuchipudi dance at her residence.