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Gobbi Dance
This is a popular dance in coastal Andhra during
the Samkranti festival. The courtyards
of all houses are cleaned and decorated with different kinds of rangavallis.
Gobbillu
i.e. balls of cow dung are placed in the middle of these designs and worshipped
with flowers, kumkum and turmeric. During evenings young girl's gather around
these gobbillu to dance and sing. This dance is a derived form of Garba described
in dance treatises.
Horse Dance
Horse dancers are popular in
Guntur district. Life size horse puppets are
prepared with cattle-dung, hay and husk and coloured to look like real horses.
These puppets are hollow in the middle, where the dancers -men and women- stand
resembling riders on horse back.
In
Guntur district, real horses are trained to dance according to the
rhythm of the drums. Tinkling bells are tied to the fetlocks of the horse.
During
marriage processions and fairs the horse dance is a popular pass time in this
district.
Karuva Dance
Karuva dance is popular in East Godavari district.
Eight men dressed as
Gopika's and eight dressed as Krishna's stand in a circle alternately. In the
middle of the circle stand two more dancers dressed as Radha and Krishna. They dance to
different rhymes. The movements in this dance are the most important. The gatis
generally employed are chaturasara, Trisara and Misra.
The classical dance forms of Andhra Pradesh are mainly Kuchipudi and
Bhamakalapam. They belong to the ancient school of Bharatnatyam. The temple
dances and the court dances too have their own styles in Andhra.
Veethi Bhagavatam
Veethi
Bhagavatam is a solo performance that originated from Kuchipudi tradition. The masters of Kuchipudi themselves thought of this new type and it
evolved through women -artistes of courtesan families (Kalavantula) who
were proficient in the solo dance -art of the Nautch. The Kuchipudi
tradition did not permit women to play female roles in its Bhagavata stories and
the Nautch had its own repertoire of detached pieces and love songs.
By crossing the features of these two, the form named Veethi Bhagavata or
Gollakalapa was developed. The Veethi Bhagavata is performed during temple
festivals, on occasions of marriage and other happy celebrations in the houses
of rich patrons.
The
Veethi Bhagavata has a single female artists, the main dancer, she supported by
a secondary female artistes. The role of Vidhushaka is used to entertain and put
across humour effectively in the play. He also add vehicle of wisdom. He is
versatile and multi purpose character, the constant companion of the lady and
also her chorist. It is its dialogue or argument in which the chief lady,
representing a milkmaid (Golla), carries on with the Brahmin, that provides the
Kalapam. She cross- examines the Brahmin as to his real Brahmin hood and expatiates on what a real Brahmin is according to the Sastras
and under the torrent of her questions and Sanskrit quotation from the
sastras, the poor Brahmin is left breathless.
The
performance begins as with any traditional dance-drama. A curtain is held
by two stage-hands and the main character performs behind it, her dance to the
entrance song as sung by the chorus. The classic ragas of the Karnatik music
are used in the songs, the Mridangam supplies the rhythmic accompaniment Jatis
are orally recited and intricate rhythm patterns give the dancers footwork
sufficient scope for artistry. She interprets the theme in the songs closely
through Abhinaya.
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