Yo! Spotlight: Meet Sannidha Rajasagi, a millennial Kuchipudi dancer from Vizag

Being a passionate child, Sannidha Rajasagi always had a love for dancing. Dance was the one thing that made her happy and as time passed it became her way of expression. At the tender age of three, she started attending Bharatnatyam classes. Due to her father’s government job, the family was in a state of constant displacement. This time the family settled in Eluru, where Sannidha’s Kuchipudi journey began. She trained under the guidance of Ms Parvati Ramachandran at Eluru and Mr Dandibotla Vaikunta Narayana Murty at Hyderabad. When she finally arrived at Vizag, the young dancer joined the esteemed Kuchipudi Kalakshetra, a brainchild of the legendary artist, Vempati Chinna Sathyam. Harnessing her skills under the wings of her guru, Hari Rama Murty, Sannidha grew up with dance as her top priority. Rather than playing with her friends, or attending birthday parties of her beloved cousins, she would prefer attending her dance classes. But being a professional Kuchipudi dancer in Vizag was never what she thought of. 

Though Sannidha had plans of taking up the medical profession, she soon realised that her true happiness laid in dancing. The Natya Sundari Award-winning Kuchipudi dancer, in a conversation with Yo! Vizag, says, “I would love to spend my time only dancing.” Soon she started to perform in different cities of India and even went to the United States of America. A beloved daughter of her parents, she received constant support to pursue her passion. Sannidha amalgamated her passion for dancing and her dream to be a doctor, by doing her bachelor’s and masters in nutrition, home science. She even holds a diploma in dance and plans to pursue her master’s in dance.  

In 2017, she opened up her dance classes in Vizag “Natya Sannidhalya – Where Dance Is A Prayer”, where she used to teach almost 40 students across the city. Even during the pandemic-initiated lockdown, Sannidha continues to teach via online classes and workshops. “I try to keep my online classes as fun as possible, during these tough times,” she adds. She continued to say that playing the role of ‘Bala Kartikeya’ was her most cherished experience. “I had performed it several times, yet it remains one of my favourite acts of all time.” 

But achieving her milestones was not as easy as it seems. It was the combined efforts of her talent and dedicated hard work. From an early age, she had to face physical challenges, with knee injuries, ankle pains, and Vitamin D deficiency. But none were able to contain her passion for performing on the stage. As she rises up to each of her difficulties and shines brightly on the stage. No barrier was great enough to stop her.  More than the several Awards, the appreciation by the National renowned Kuchipudi dancers, and her gurus, fueled her passion to become one of the top Kuchipudi performers of the Telugu States.

Sannidha’s journey as a Kuchipudi dancer in Vizag is an exemplary embodiment that dedication towards passion and hard work is always rewarding. Such stories of the passion of common people from Vizag, The City Of Destiny, inspire the fire inside us, to continue working towards our goals.