Indian classical dance greats Uday Shankar and Raja Reddy have been weighed against each other time and again, but the latter has never liked the comparison and says, "Uday Shankar was not technically perfect".
"Uday Shankar was not a dancer, he was actually a painter. He took up dancing only after a ballerina in London suggested him to do so. And that is when he started tableau, but he was not technically perfect," says Reddy.
He has a similar opinion about the comparisons made between the couple dances performed by him with his wife Radha, and that of Shankar with his wife Amala.
"People today compare the performances by me and my wife with couple dances by Uday and his wife, but I don't think that is right," Reddy told PTI.
According to the Padma Bhushan awardee, Indian classical dance is "complete" only when "performed as a couple".
"Complete means me and Radha. Male and female. Shiva's 'Tandava' and Parvati's 'Lasya'. We are the first couple in India to dance in complete recital form," he says.
Recalling how his choice of dance as a career was frowned upon, he says it was eventually the art form that brought him and his wife closer.
"Radha's grandfather told her that I am going to become a beggar and they cannot send her with him. But since we both were passionate about dance, she stood her ground and told them that she was going to live with me," he says.
Reddy's own father too was opposed to the idea of him becoming a dancer and did "everything to ensure that I never get exposed to Bhagvatam dance dramas".
"Dancing was considered a lowly profession in our region. Dancers used to tell Bhagvatam stories to earn their living. My father used to sponsor them, but then he never wanted me to become a dancer.
"But I was mad about dancing. I used to run away with the traditional artistes to different villages and participate in their dance dramas," says Reddy.
Dance has been a constant companion in his and his wife's marriage for the last 50 years, and despite personal fights, he says, "dance has been a great unifier".
"Fights are evident when you are in one family. But dance makes us forget our egos. As soon we are on stage, or in class teaching our students, we become one again and everything else takes a back seat.
"In this way, dance has been a great unifier. Dance brought us together then, and dance brings us together even now," says Reddy.
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