HYDERABAD : Their common love for temples and divine traditions of India led Shashi Reddy and Dr Srinagi B. Rao bond together and conceptualise Gudi Sambaralu, the temple dance festival of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The festival is all about knowing the history unknown, century-old temples traditions in the two states.
To create an aura around the temple festival, the founders united together to create a series of classical dance performances in these temple sites taking people back into the past. This concept which took shape in 2015 merges past with contemporary art. "Sambaralu (temple festivities) is to bring back the practice of temples being the centres of social and cultural activity," the duo say.
In ancient times, dance was not performed at auditoriums, but at temples and that entire experience was majestic. The goal is to rekindle bygone era, making the experience of dance more divine through our annual temple festival says Srinagi and Sashi Reddy. Shashi and Srinagi, have known each other for 20 years. Both with a passionate interest in dance and music. The eureka moment was when Shashi went to a temple dance festival in Bengaluru and decided to embark on something similar in Hyderabad, she found like minded Srinagi as the perfect partner.
The performances are open to all, the locals, who can relish performances of national and international artists, hitherto inaccessible to many people around the temple region. Sashi and Srinagi believes the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has a lot of hidden old gems, The festival is a journey to find them and present its grandeur to the world.
In Bharatha various genres of dance, music, theater, puppetry and the visual arts have all been a means of worship and meditation and were nurtured in temples. They have been a means to promote values, legends and joy to both the performer and the audience. Gudi Sambaraalu is held under the guidance and patronage of eminent citizens of Hyderabad on the board.Among the upcoming events are classical and folk instrumental concert by Jaywant Naidu, Hindustani vocal by Harini Rao and group, Carnatic and Hindustrani instrumental by Peri Tyagaraj and Irfan Khan group soon.
Among the exciting venues are Sitaram Bagh temple in the city, Venugopala Swamy temple near Bhongir, temple in Warangal fort and Durgamata Mandir in Naganoor in Karimnagar. The venues are mostly heritage temples that have a hoary history and great architecture.