About The Guru

Prafulla Velury - Kuchipudi dance still

Prafulla Velury

Prafulla Velury is an accomplished Kuchipudi dancer, Choreographer, Nattuvanar and Carnatic singer.

In the United States, Prafulla has been teaching Kuchipudi Dance & Carnatic Vocal to students of all ages in the New England area. Currently she teaches regular Kuchipudi Dance & Carnatic Music classes in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and remote Dance, Music and Nattuvangam classes through Skype.

Other than performing at regular cultural events throughout New England and other states like Texas and Seattle, Prafulla and her students have performed at many events dedicated to education and raising funds for charitable causes. She has been providing vocal accompaniment to many Bharatanatyam and Odissi Arangetrams in the New England area. Prafulla has sung in many languages like Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Oriya and Hindi.

Receiving rave reviews and accolades have been a constant throughout Prafulla’s career. She currently resides in Rhode Island, USA.

Guinness_World_RecordOn June 21st, 2008, Prafulla and daughter Krishna Sampada were entered into the Guinness World Records. They had participated in the first  “largest Kuchipudi dance” event organized by SiliconAndhra in Cupertino, California.

Back in India, Prafulla has well over 300 performances to her credit. She has won many awards including the title of “Natya Sudhalahari” from Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana

Prafulla had choreographed and performed in Kuchipudi ballets and anchored many children’s educational shows on popular Indian TV channels. She had also anchored many shows based on Telugu Movies before moving to the United States in 1999.

Prafulla’s Gurus

Prafulla was already performing Andhra folk dances on stage at the age of Prafulla Velury (Oct' 11)three, when she started her initial training in Kuchipudi dance from Guru Late Sri Yeleswarapu Suryaprakash Sarma. Two years later, she joined Guru Sri D V Satyakumar, who was a disciple of Guru Late Sri Vempati Chinna Satyam. She graduated from Telugu University majoring in Kuchipudi Dance.

Prafulla learnt Carnatic Vocal from her mother Late Smt. Bachu Sarojini Devi. She had also sung for many leading Kuchipudi dancers of the time in India including Padma Bhushan Swapna Sundari, Late Dr. Uma Rama Rao, Smt Swathi Somnath, Dr. Sumathi Kaushal and others. She was also an accomplished singer at All India Radio. At the Jawahar Bal Bhavan in Hyderabad, she had penned lyrics and composed music to many ballets and children’s songs.