BUTTA BOMMALU

Butta Bommalu is a popular dance form in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the foster child of the West and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. The name Butta Bommalu literally means puppets made in the form of basket. Butta Bommalu or the basket puppets are made out of thin bamboo strips. These strips are woven into the shape of long spherical basket figures.

The performer of Butta Bommalu gets into the huge, hollow figure, the puppet. The performance starts with the dancer moving to the rhythm of four dappus, a musical instrument. It is generally performed in the open space. The puppet-figure is about eight feet tall and it has a radius of three feet. The figure is hollow at the bottom it is from there that the performer gets into the puppet. The puppet is tied down to the performer�s waist and shoulders.

Being made out of bamboo strips, the figures are very light. It becomes very easy for the performer to carry the figure easily. A paste of tamarind seeds is applied on the structure made of bamboo strips. Then, different bright colors are used to make the puppets look attractive.

In this incredible form of puppet dance, the puppets are adorned with appropriate costumes. Highlights in any religious procession, these huge dancing figures are a special attraction in the festivities in Andhra Pradesh.

The figures resemble different legendary heroes, the most popular of them being Rama, Hanumana, Satyabhama, Shakti, Krishna etc. It also depends on the festival during which Butta Bommalu is performed

VEERANATYAM......

The ordinary meaning of Veeranatyam is dance of the brave. This dance is accompanied with a lot of vigor and enthusiasm. The sole aim of the Veeranatyam is to pay homage to the divine God Shiva who is believed to be the oldest Vedic God. People also worship the Goddess Veerabhadra by performing this dance drama.

Actually performance of Veeranatyam occurs in almost every Shiva Temples of Andhra Pradesh and it involves skillful steps and dexterous hand movements. This dance is presently performed in the marriage functions and vow fulfillment ceremonies. The themes of the Veeranatyam mainly revolve around Dakshayagna.

During the Dakshayagna, a flame is lit and the bodies of the dancers are pierced with trident and spears. Since this needs skill and practice, the dancers require practicing their skills throughout the year. At the end of the ceremony the tridents are lit and Lord Shiva is offered homage by these flaming tridents.

Description of the Veeranatyam:
The Veeranatyam involves celebrations like Virabhadra Pallem in which the dancers use a big plate made of palm;the dance continues until the flame extinguishes completely. Throughout the entire dance performance, ritual chant by the pujaris continues. Another form of Veeranatyam involves dancing with a large bamboo pole which is smeared with vibhuti.

All these dances are mostly devotional and involves vigorous ritual practices and is owes its origin to the Veeramusti community. The people of this community claim direct descent from Lord Shiva.

The Veeranatyam dance involves Thambaru, Dolu, Thasha and Veeranam. The colorful dress worn by the dancers and their cheerful cries invigorates the entire atmosphere. Their worship finds expression through their nimble dance and their vibrant attires.

BURRA KATHA.....

Burra is referred to Tambura, a musical instrument with a hallow shell and attached strings. Katha means story.The name "Burrakatha" refers to same art in entire Andhra Pradesh, but there are also local names to the art in each region.
Coastal region - Jangam Katha
Rayalaseema - Tandana katha or suddulu
Telangana - Tamboora katha or sarada katha.
Burrakatha started as devotional songs of nomadic people and became a popular art form and is played on Radio and TV regularly in Andhra Pradesh. It is a new name (twentieth century) for the theater show known as Jangam Katha. The jangams were wandering minstrels who worshiped and sang of Siva. Two performers participated in these plays: the storyteller and his wife. With societal and cultural changes, the secular aspect was incorporated into this form. Modern form has three performers of any gender.
The main story teller(called as Kathakudu) narrates the story. He plays Tambura and dances to music. He also wears a metal ring called as andelu on his right thumb, holds another ring in his other hand and adds more music by colliding them frequently. The co-performers plays gummeta(also called as dakki or budike), earthen drums with two heads. All three or only kathakadu will be wearing anklets(also called as gajjelu), which add even more music when they dance.
The right side performer(called as the hasyaka, means joker) acts as a joker and cracks satires and jokes. The left side performer(called as the rajakiya, means politician) acts as a person who knows worldly ways and talks about politics and social issues. The main performer and co-performers constantly addressing each other. The co-performers interrupts him with doubts, and they sometimes add emphasis the main events in the story with short words similar to "Wow!" ,"aaha" and "That it it".
Whenever the main performer sings a song, he starts with "vinara veera kumara veera gadha vinara" followed by the co-performers singing "tandhana tane tandhana na", hence it is also called 'tandana katha'.

BHAMAKALPAM........

. Among the various forms of dance form popular in Andhra Pradesh, Bhamakalpam is one of them. The dance form of Bhamakalpam of Andra Pradesh mainly deals with the life of the Hindu mythological character Satyabhama. She was wife of Lord Sri Krishna, who was very beautiful but jealous. The word 'Bhamakalpam' has been derived by amalgamating two words 'Bhama' the original name of Lord Krishna's wife, and 'Kalpam' means complaint or jealousy. The dancers use stylistic hand gestures, body movements including subtle facial expressions and with more realistic acting. The Bhamakalpam Dance is quite similar to Kuchipudi Dance in terms of physical vigor.

Lord Krishna and Radha had a platonic relationship. Lord Krishna's wife Bhama, always used to mistrust Krishna, because of his intimate relationship with Sri Radha. She always used to feel insecure and jealous towards Radha and used to argue with her husband regarding this. The Bhamakalpam dance in Andra Pradesh is predominated by Lasya or the feminine movements, contrary to Tandava Movement or male movement, found in another Indian classical dance, Kathakali. During the 17th century Bhamakalpam was conceived by Siddhendra Yogi for the Kuchipudi dancers for devotional purpose.

KUCHIPUDI DANCE

Kuchipudi is a dance form given to the Indian dance platform by a small village in the Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is not merely a dance form but is combination of dance, gestures, speech and song. A Kuchipudi dancer has to be well versed in dancing, acting, music, various languages and texts. Kuchipudi was born in a small village of Andhra Pradesh. There it developed as a tradition by the same name where it was born. Kuchipudi although now recognized as an independent dance form is related to Bharat Natyam. It was in the 17th century during the bhakti movement in South India that Siddendra Yogi the formulator of the dance form selected some boys from the village to perform dance drama. Thus came the Kuchipudi in this world. In those days Kuchipudi was performed once in a year and the dance form was cautiously kept out of the reach of Devadasis. From the first performers the technique and skills of this form got handed over the generations to acquire the present form. Some of the legendary performers and gurus were Kuchipudi Brahmins like Lakshmi Narayan Shastri and Chinta Krishna Murti who excelled in roles like Satyabhama in Bhamakalapam; later gurus include Vedantam Chinna Satyam.

DANCE FORMS OF ANDHRA PRADESH

1 Kuchipudi
2 Bhamakalpam
3 Burrakatha
4 Veeranatyam
5 Butta bommalu
6 Dappu
7 Tappeta Gullu
8 Lambadi
9 Bonalu
10 Dhimsa
11 Kolattam

JAGO......

Literally, "wake up!" When there's a marriage in the house, girls dance through the village streets carrying a pot (gaggar) decorated with lightened candles and singing jaagu songs. The theme of song in the 'Jago' is social and typically a bit of teasing (often aimed at elders) goes with the song.