VIJAYAWADA: In a bid to inculcate interest in Kuchipudi dance among school students, the state government is all set to introduce history and literature of Kuchipudi dance form as a chapter in the social studies subject of the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth standards in all state syllabus-following schools, including the private ones, from the coming academic year.
Speaking to Express here on Tuesday, Kuchipudi Natyaramam (dance academy) chairman Kuchibhotla Anand added that the government decision in this regard was based on a proposal made by him and that he had already designed the syllabus.
He said that in the Sixth Standard, the students would get to know about the evolution of Kuchipudi dance and Kuchipudi village and about the first Guru Siddhendra Yogi. In the seventh standard, they would be taught dance ‘mudras’ and techniques and the rules and benefits of performing this dance; in the eighth standard, they would learn how the dance had lasted six generations and the life history of Kuchipudi exponents of different generations; in the ninth standard, they would be taught the Kuchipudi literature.
“The special classes will be conducted by the dance teachers in all state syllabus-following schools. In those schools which don’t have separate faculty for dance classes, the basics will be taught by their social studies teachers and we will conduct special sessions for the students of such schools later with Kuchipudi dance experts.
The aim of this project is to help children learn the aesthetics and essential components of the Kuchipudi dance that originated in Krishna district,” Anand explained.
He further said that the officials concerned were planning to conduct separate practical Kuchipudi classes for the interested students free of cost. “We are discussing with all government and private institutions the possibility of forming clusters to teach the Kuchipudi dance to the interested students by appointing a common Kuchipudi dance teacher for each such cluster as it may not be possible for each school to recruit one expert in Kuchipudi dance form,” he added.
The students who had studied the Kuchipudi dance form, would be given diploma certificates for the first two years from sixth standard in junior category and the next two years up to ninth standard in senior category.
“It will help to encourage the children to learn the Kuchipudi dance and we will implement this one in next couple of months as the discussions with the private institutions have almost been completed and most of them are enthusiastic to take up the project,” Anand concluded.