French connection with Kuchipudi

It was called melange of dance and the tip-toe and pirouette of ballet blended easily with the gestures and drama of Kuchipudi. Ranee Kumardiscovers more PHOTO: K_RAMESH BABU Fusion feast The beauty of east-west amalgamation If Indian fine arts like dance imbibe a sense of poise and grace in the practitioners, with the French it is elegance personified in all walks of life. This is a common thread that runs through the two different cultures. No surprise then that the French Embassy and the Department of Culture were able to draw inspiration to float a ‘melange’ of two dance genre — so close yet so distant in techniques, approaches and aesthetics. The similarities are calculated, stepwise moves, flinging of limbs, taut body kinetics that allows limited flexibility. This must be one of the reasons why Kuchipudi was chosen to... [read full story]