KARIMNAGAR: In a bid to revive an ancient Kakatiya era dance form ‘ Perini Natyam’, SRR Government Degree College, in coordination with the department of Language and Culture, is conducting a 15-day residential training camp for PG and Degree students. Dance exponents from Warangal Perini Peetham, J Srikrishna and G Ranjith Kuamr are imparting training to the students in the camp that started on Oct 1.
“Initially, we had doubts over the theme, as connecting the present generation to an ancient art form involves lot of motivation. But the response was overwhelming. Though we decided to provide training to 50 students, about 80 students are undergoing training”, said SRR Government College principal B Madhusudhan Reddy.
The organisers are planning to conduct a special performance of Perni dance by the students at the ancient monument tower circle, on the concluding day, to mark the Navaratri celebrations. Our efforts are to revive the ancient ethnic dance form and to invite the attention of the state government to our rich tradition, that needs to be protected. We would urge the government to declare Perini Natyam as the state classical dance of Telangana, he added.
Perini instructor J Srikrishna alleged that Perini dance was neglected in erstwhile AP, which pushed the dance form into oblivion. Nowadays very few people know about Perini dance, so there is a need to popularise the dance form and to protect it for the future generation. He said this is the first Perini training camp after Telangana’s formation.
Perini was performed to motivate the warriors before they proceed to the battle field. The dance form, which has a tradition of more than 1,000 years was promoted by Kakatiya rulers Rani Rudrama Devi and Ganapathi Deva in the 13th century. Later it faded into oblivion due to lack of patronage. Musicologist late Nataraja Ramakrishna revived the forgotten dance form in the early 1970s.