Raja Reddy and Radha Reddy are famous proponents of which dance form?

Explanation

Raja Reddy and Radha Reddy are a famous husband-and-wife pair of Kuchipudi dancers, who have performed together for more than five decades and have done much to make Kuchipudi known in India and around the world.

Raja Reddy and Radha Reddy come from the Adilabad district of present-day Telangana. They learnt Kuchipudi from Guru Vedantam Prahlada Sarma and others, and they also studied Bharatanatyam. They became known for their energetic and graceful duet performances, in which they often portray pairs such as Radha and Krishna or Shiva and Parvati. In 1976, they founded Natya Tarangini, a dance institution in New Delhi, which has trained many dancers and also hosts dance festivals. Their daughters, Yamini Reddy and Bhavana Reddy, are also dancers, and Raja Reddy's other wife, Kaushalya Reddy, has also worked with them. They have performed at many international festivals and have represented India at important cultural events. They received the Padma Shri (1984), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1991) and the Padma Bhushan (2000).

Kuchipudi is the classical dance of Andhra Pradesh, named after the village of Kuchipudi in the Krishna district. It was given its traditional form by Siddhendra Yogi in the 17th century and was developed into a solo form in the 20th century by gurus such as Vempati Chinna Satyam. It combines speech, mime and pure dance, and is known for the Tarangam, in which the dancer balances on the rim of a brass plate.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Kathak is associated with dancers such as Birju Maharaj and Sitara Devi.
• ✗Odissi is associated with dancers such as Kelucharan Mohapatra and Sonal Mansingh.
• ✗Mohiniyattam is associated with dancers such as Kalyanikutty Amma and Kanak Rele.