7,000 Girls Perform ‘Kuchipudi’ In Vizag To Set New Record 

Visakhapatnam: As many as 7,000 girl students on Tuesday performed classical dance 'Kuchipudi' in Vishakapatnam to set a Guinness World record.

The girls from 21 government-run residential schools in north coastal Andhra participated in the event to commemorate 125th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar. The girls performed in unison with three songs, whose theme was the life story of Ambedkar. The event was jointly organized by Andhra Pradesh Residential Educational Institutions Society (APREIS) and Social Welfare Department.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, ministers and top officials attended the programme. The organisers said it broke the earlier record of the largest Kuchipudi dance. As many as 6,117 artists had performed the classical dance in Vijayawada in December last year to set the record.

The girls who performed in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday were trained by professional dancers for last two months. In his address, Naidu said Kuchipudi was the cultural heritage of Andhra Pradesh. "It's the responsibility of all of us to pass on this great heritage to our coming generations," he said. The Chief Minister said that Rs 100 crore were allocated in the state budget for promotion of Kuchipudi.

He said Kuchipudi Academy would also come up in the new state capital Amaravati.