Kuchipudi, a tiny village in Krishna district, the birthplace of one of the Indian classical dance forms, Kuchipudi dance, is losing attraction due to callous attitude of state government towards the ancient classical dance.

Though the Kuchipudi dance received acclaim across the globe and large number of artistes trained under the Kuchipudi gurus here are spreading the dance form in different parts of the country and abroad, the dance form is losing patronage in its native village due to lack of commitment from the government.

Sri Siddhendra Yogi Kuchipudi Kalapeetham was started here by Potti Sriramulu Telugu Univ-ersity in 1998 at the initiative of former chief minister late N.T. Rama Rao to promote the ancient dance form. The Kalapee-tham has been conducting classes for Kuchipudi dance certificate, degree and PG courses.

Several traditional artistes remained in the village to promote the dance form facing several odds due to lack of livelihood. Mainly students are not coming forward to learn the dance form as there are no employment opportunities after finishing the course for a period of four to six years.

A dance teacher of the institute observes that if the government provides employment by appointing dance teachers in government schools, the students trained here would get employment opportunity and there would be great demand. A student Sudip Despande of Benga-luru said that the government should provide scho-larships to students who wish to learn the ancient dance form. Another student Vempati Ravindra, who came from Rishikesh to learn the dance form and do research, feels that the university should focus more on academic development. He said that if the government provides necessary infrastructure students from national and international level would visit here to study the Kuchipudi dance form.

A student B. Swarna-latha, who is visiting the village daily from Eluru, observes that there is no dearth of gurus in the village. The student has to learn more from them by paying attention. She said some gurus dedicated their lives to the dance form and teaching it to students without expecting any returns from them.

Siddhendra Kalapeetam principal Mr V. Rama-linga Sastry expressed happiness over appointing dance teachers in IIITs. He said such appointments would attract more number of students. He said that the ancient dance form would help for personality development and physical fitness of a person.

A senior lecturer of the Kalapeetham Mr Vedan-tam Radhesyam believes that the ancient dance form is a performing art and it would get back its glory once the teachers and students strive hard to win applause from people through their performance.