About the founder of Nartana Academy for Performing Arts

Smt. K. Vidya Murthy, daughter of Late Kalluri Lakshmi Narasimha Murthy, started her training in classical dances at the age of 10 under the guidance of Smt. Sankari Ganesan. To begin with, she learnt Bharatanatyam but later on she was attracted by the gracious Kuchipudi style and had undergone rigorous training in Kuchipudi dance under the guidance of Natyacharya Jayarama Rao at New Delhi for about 15 years.

                          Smt. Vidya Murthy with her Guru Padmashree Jayarama Rao.
She gave several stage performances in New Delhi and other important cities. She took part in several prestigious programmes along with great artistes like Indrani Rehman, Sonal Mansingh, Radh Reddy, Raja Reddy, Meenakshi Seshadri and others. For achieveing greater refinement she had undergone special training from the world renowned Guru Padma Bhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam. Not content with her academic qualification in M.A. (Economics), she did her M.P.A from the Central University of Hyderabad in the years 1994-96 and presented a desertion on ‘Rhythm and Spirit of Koyas’ covering an indepth study on the cultural, economic and social aspects of ‘koya’ tribe.

She started conducting classes in Kuchipudi dance and her students gave a number of stage performances, won appreciations and prizes at various dance competitions conducted by the cultural organizations. She choreographed some of the dance ballets which include ‘Geetopadesam’, ‘Ramayana’, ‘Parvathi kalyanam’, etc. Inspired by their talents and encouraged by the friends and well wishers, she founded the ‘Nartana’ academy of performing arts.

Before her sudden and untimely demise in 2005, she worked with lot of zeal and vigour with an intention to serve for the fulfillment of its objectives with devotion and dedication.