Dubai: When women her age were playing with dolls or doodling with crayons, Sravani Tenneti began taking faltering steps to learn Bharatanatyam, one of the well-known Indian classical dance forms. That turned into 15 years in the past. The 19-year-antique has moved on to the Kuchipudi dance shape and has over six hundred performances to her credit score with several awards as an affidavit to her talent.
The teen, who did her Grade 12 from Sharjah Indian School, pursued her Bachelor’s path in Interior Design from Manipal University, Dubai Campus. Sravani is clear about what she’d be doing inside the destiny — combining her ardor with her career. She desires to combine her dance form with interior design, and she is exploring approaches to do it. Sravani offered her arangetram (debut overall performance as a dancer) about six years after having initially discovered Bharatnatyam from her first guru, Giri, in Dubai. She later switched to Kuchipudi, below tutelage from the same guru.
She went directly to do a certificate course underneath Vendantam Ramalinga Shastry of Kuchipudi Siddhendra Yogi Kalapeetam. Kuchipudi is a village in Andhra Pradesh where this dance shape, primarily based on Bharata’s Natyasastra (dance treatise), originated and became popularised with the aid of Siddhendra Yogi.
Recently, she completed a degree direction under the steering of Pasumarti Srinivasa Sarma, lecturer at VS Government Music and Dance College, Rajahmundry in Andhra. “Now I am doing an MA route under the guidance of Vijaysekhar (who’s a disciple of the legend Padmabhushan Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam) in Hyderabad over Botim,” says Sravani.
Internet dancing
Which brings us to the question: Is distance mastering feasible in an art shape inclusive of classical dance?
It’s viable to learn at the net, says Sravani. “If one knows the basics, it becomes clear to talk,” she says. The done artist, who is humble enough to say she has more to examine, has achieved at most Hindu temples in India, including the renowned Guruvayoor and Aatukal temples in Kerala; Tirupati Annavaram, and Srisailam temples in Andhra Pradesh and at the Silicon Andhra biennial.
Among the latest big events wherein she completed is the Godavari Pushkaram in Andhra Pradesh at the invitation of the national authorities. Locally, she has accomplished many activities performed by way of institutions: Rasamayi, Telugu Sravanthi, Telugu Kala Samiti, Waves, Music India Dubai, Telugu Tarangini, and different Tamil and Malayalam associations.
Pursuing an art inclusive of Indian classical dance exacts a toll on time and studies. So how did she manage both?
“I attempt to practice dance for a minimum of two hours each day while no longer neglecting my research. I make greater of an effort on weekends. “While still getting to know, I also train Kuchipudi to dance to more youthful women at home. In the procedure, I get to realize my errors,” she says. “I plan to install a dance school of my own,” Sravani adds, revealing how deeply passionate she is set to dance.
What stimulated her to absorb dance?
Sravani says as a little one she became inspired by the Telugu film ‘ Srutilayalu,’ directed by legendary Telugu movie-maker K Vishwanath, wherein a young boy plays a dance through straddling the rim of a brass plate, and such is his dedication to the artwork that he keeps dancing even though his toes are bruised via the sharp metal.
She caught her parents’ attention, who saw her copy the boy’s movements in ‘Srutilayalu.’ The little female asked her mother and father why her feet had been now not bleeding, just like the boys in the movie. Her mom Laxmi Kameswari, a classical Carnatic singer, and father, Ravi Kumar Tenneti, an engineer operating for a multinational corporation in Dubai, decided to inspire her to learn dance and positioned Sravani tutelage of her first guru Giri.
Speaking about her hobby in Kuchipudi dance form, Sravani says she is extra cozy in this dance as many more expressions may be added forth. “In Bharatanatyam, you can not emote the manner you could get in Kuchipudi. Of course, there may be abhinaya (performing through expressions) in Bharatanatyam, too. However, the artists don’t communicate. In Kuchipudi, there’s speak and dance. It’s more like a drama. It includes speedy, rhythmic footwork, dynamic expression, sleek body movements, and hand gestures,” she explains.