M, NAGABHUSHANA SARMA, teacher, researcher, playwright and director, was formerly Professor and Dean, Osmania University and Central University, Hyderabad. His research publications in Folk Arts and Dance include Folk Performing Arts of Andhra Pradesh, The Shadow Puppet Theatre and Toorpu Bhagavatham. He is the Chief Editor of Nartanam.

Guru Vempati Chinna Satyam, who completes 75 this 15th October (he was born on October 15, 1929), is Kuchipudi's gift to the world of Indian Dance. Like the other pioneers of this era and the earlier - Rukmini Devi, Kelucharan Mohapatra and Birju Maharaj, to name a few - he too worked within the parameters of his chosen art form, and like them, enlarged the creative fecundity by elevating the art form to nobler heights, by giving it a pan-Indian expanse. Vempati brought to Kuchipudi a classical insignia and a global ambience,1 while retaining his art's roots down to the traditional soil of Kuchipudi.