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Disciple with a master's touch
A MAN WITH A WOMAN'S BEAUTY AND GRACE
How often is it that a dancer's performance is documented
for posterity? But when young Kala Krishna mastered
the newly rediscovered Andhra Natyam and
Navajanardana Parijatam, the performance
was recorded by the National Council of Performing
Arts for its national archives!
Born in Kallepalli, a village in the district
of Karimnagar, his father Rolla Laxmaiah
and mother Gowri were a  simple
farming-couple. While pursuing studies in Bejadanki,
Kala Krishna also took part in cultural programmes.
His love for dance made him excel in the art.
He then proceeded to Hyderabad and at the age of 24
years, became a disciple of Nataraj Ramakrishna,
who had just revived a near-forgotten dance form that
he called Andhra Natyam.
Kala Krishna learnt the Andhra Natyam, a traditional
lasya dance performed for centuries by women. Made
up as the young, beautiful epic character Satyabhama,
Kala Krishna began to enthral the audience by dancing
the Navajanardana Parijatam. In 1993
he won a Junior Fellowship from
the Government of India to study Abhinaya. He has received
several awards, honours and titles like Abhinava
Satyabhama and Madhura Lasya Kala Nidhi. The
Central Sangeet Natak Academy has recorded his
performance and a documentary film made on his Navajanardana
Parijatam won the Andhra Pradesh government's Nandi
award for 1988. He has given over 800 performances
all over India, USA, Port Louis and Africa.
Following his guru Nataraj Ramakrishna's footsteps,
he is presently absorbed in research work on dances
of his interest and contemporary dances. He has already
made a comparative study of Andhra Natyam, Navajanardana
Parijatam and Kuchipudi-Bhama Kalapam and
presented a commentary to the Sangeet Natak Academy.
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