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Dance is the remedy for obesity: Raja Reddy

State govt must introduce dance training within school curriculum to avail every child an opportunity to get introduced to ancient dance forms.

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New millennium artist and country's legendary Kuchipudi dancer - Padmashree and Padmabhushan awardee Raja Reddy's fitness mantra is his dancing skills.

Reddy, standing tall at 5.7 ft weighed above 100 kg in his early years. But, today at the age of 60, Reddy weighs 72 kg, which he says has reduced with the help of Kuchipudi. I have been maintaining my health using dance therapy since 1970, says Reddy, who claims he was diagnosed with a series of obesity-induced ailments earlier.

"I am fit and active at sixty due to my passion for Kuchipudi," said Reddy, the versatile dancer who was in the city to inaugurate a dance academy offering degree course in Bharat Natyam and Kuchipudi on Sunday.

He was accompanied by accompanied by Kuchipudi artists Kaushalya and Radha Reddy. For their contribution to the field of Kuchipudi classical dance, the Reddy couple - Raja and Radha Reddy - was bestowed the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award in 1990 and also awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Award in 1992. The Reddys hail from Andhra Pradesh, the cradle of Kuchipudi and are well known for having giving a new dimension to the classical art form of Kuchipudi. They are one of the most sought after choreographers in the country today.

"I weighed 100 kgs in my early twenties and had always been drowsy and inactive. Today with advancing age I feel healthier as I have shed a lot of weight practising various classical dance forms - an ultimate remedy for obesity," said Reddy, who manages a dance institute - Natya Tarangini in New Delhi. I have choreographed a variety of dance dramas, solos, duets and group performances during their career spanning over four decades."

Dance is the best form of exercise as it helps co-ordinate the inner mental and emotional process with outward physical activities including body postures that tones muscles and facial and eye expressions that help the dancers communicate various nuances.

Besides aesthetic appeal and eternal bliss, the Indian classical dance forms also have a potential to become the best remedy for physical fitness, believes Reddy. "Classical dance art forms have all key ingredients that help one attain completeness. From mental and emotional stimulation to physical regeneration and depth that touches the soul -classical arts offer a wide platform to remain fit," claimed Reddy who advocated that the state government must introduce dance training within school curriculum to avail every child get an opportunity to get introduced to ancient dance forms.

"To propagate and perpetuate classical dance culture, the state machinery must introduce compulsory dance lessons at school level," he said.

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