Parampara Series opens at Kamani with Kuchipudi, sitar and cello

Dancers stepped onto the rims of brass plates for a Shiva Tarangam at Kamani Auditorium, closing the opening Kuchipudi recital of Natya Tarangini’s 30th Parampara Series.

The annual dance and music festival is built around two themes: Kutumbh, which brings performing-arts families together on stage, and Shishya, focused on the guru-shishya tradition. The Kuchipudi presentation, accompanied by live vocals, tabla, mridangam, violin and flute, began with an ode to Krishna before its brass-plate finale.

Festival curator and Kuchipudi exponent Kaushalya Reddy said the programme sought to present and propagate India’s artistic heritage while making different forms accessible beyond their traditional geographies.

For the Kutumbh segment, Shubhendra Rao, Saskia Rao-de Haas and Ishaan Rao performed together. They opened with *Trinity*, their composition based on Carnatic Raga Hemavati, followed by a work composed by Ishaan. A Malhar piece planned as a monsoon ode was set aside as rain fell across the city.