Andhrawishesh.com regrets to inform its visitors that Kuchipudi exponent and world famous classical dance teacher Padma Sri Dr. Nataraja Ramakrishna passed away this morning at the NIMS hospital in Hyderabad after a few days of illness leaving thousands of his disciplines and fans in grief. He was 78.

Dr Ramakrishna, who served as the chairman of the AP State Music and Dance Academy in the past and revived various Andhra dance forms and put the state of AP in the international map of classical dances, developed serious health problems on May 27 and was admitted to a private hospital but later the dance maestro was shifted to the NIMS where he breathed his last this morning.

As the creator of the ‘Perini Sivatandavam’ dance form, Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna trained thousands of people around the world in classical dance forms and carved a niche for himself in the field of classical dance. He also toured several countries to publicize the Andhra classical dance forms and bring them recognition.

Born at Bali in Indonesia on March 31, 1923, Dr Nataraja Ramakrishana dedicated his life for research and development of classical dance forms and remained a bachelor till he breathed his last.

After leaving his parents and wealth for the sake of classical dance at a very small age, Ramakrishna mastered the Kuchipudi and other Andhra classical dance forms at Movva near Kuchipudi in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh for several years and then started training students all over the world.

A writer of more than 40 books on various classical dance forms, Dr Nataraja Ramakrishna was totally immersed in serving the classical dance field for more than 60 years.

With the cooperation of his brother Syam Sundar, Ramakrishna mastered various classical dance forms under the direction of his teachers Meenakshi Sundaram Pillay and Nayudupet Rajamma.

His funeral will take place on Wednesday at Domalguda burial ground in Hyderabad.