Deepika Reddy to perform ‘Kuchipudi’ dance at Navarathri Festival
Kalabhooshanam Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar
The Navarathri Festival of the Department of Hindu Religious and
Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Religious Affairs
and Moral Upliftment will be held on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October
2008 at New Kathiresan hall, Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4 presided over by
Shanthi Navukarasan, Director of the Department of Hindu Religious and
Cultural Affairs.
Pandu Bandaranayake, Minister of Religious Affairs will be the chief
guest while H.M. Herath, Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs
will be the guest of honour.
‘Kalaratna’, ‘Natyamani’ Srimathy Deepika Reddy of Hydrabad, India
has been specially invited by the Indian Cultural Centre to perform a
dance programme namely ‘Kuchchupidi’ to grace the occasion. Deepika
Reddy is acclaimed as a fine exponent, of Kuchipudi style of dance in
the present times.
She was thoroughly groomed by the legendary Guru Padmabhushan Dr.
Vempati Chinna Satyam and has secured a niche for herself in the world
of performing arts.
 Amongst other prestigious awards she is a recipient of ‘Kala Ratna’,
the highest State award conferred by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh in
recognition of her achievements in the field of Kuchipudi.
Deepika has performed extensively in prestigious dance festivals all
over the country some of which are: Khajuraho, Konark, Mahabalipuram,
Chidambaran etc. She has won laurels performing in Eastern Europe, when
ICCR sent her as a cultural ambassador. She was part of an official
delegation to Japan, where she made presentations depicting our rich
culture.
She was conferred honorary citizenship on this occasion. She has
performed in Bali, Indonesia for PATA 2007. She has recently returned
from a successful and extensive month-long tour of France and Germany
where she has given over 20 performances.
Deepika is a sought after artiste for her lecture demonstrations
especially in schools and colleges with an objective of creating
awareness of our classical dance forms within the young student
community.
Her forte in this areas often brings her into taking up similar
lecture demonstrations to visiting faculty and students of top
universities from the Untied States of America.
Deepika has been conferred the following titles: ‘Natya Ilavarasi’,
‘Natya Visharada’, ‘Pancharatna Mahila Puraskar’, ‘Kalatarang’,
‘Rashtriya Vikas Shiromani’ and ‘Natya Mani’. She is a member of the
Regional Film Censor Board.
Deepika is the Foudner Director of ‘Deepanjali’, an institute which
strives for excellence in the field of Kuchipudi. Students of Deepanjali
have performed along with their Guru at various prestigious dance
festivals and brought accolades to their Guru and the institute.
For Deepika dance is not only a passion but worship of the divine art
form. |
