A Wife and Husband’s Artistic Journey

Dr. Ramana Vasili, student of Padma Bhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam, started learning Kuchipudi dance at the Kuchipudi Art Academy, Chennai in 1972. He started as a young boy with 12 years of age. He continued the next 5 years until his parents moved to Hyderabad in 1977, where Ramana continued learning Kuchipudi at the Kuchipudi Art Academy in Hyderabad and also worked as an instructor. Alongside, he was pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Bhavan’s New Science College, Hyderabad.  Sri Ramana and Smt. Chandra Prabha Vasili both had their diplomas in Kuchipudi dance from Sri Tyagaraja Government College of Music and Dance, Hyderabad.

Sri Ramana established the Indian Ballet Theater, a school of Kuchipudi Dance and Music, in 1982 at the temple town of Tirupathi, while he pursued his Master and Ph.D in Chemistry at Sri Venkateswara University. Here, the couple has trained hundreds of students and gave hundreds of performances all over Andhra Pradesh. For a decade, the couple gave several performances during Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams annual Brahmotsavams in Tirupathi and Tirumala, and Annamacharya Jayanti and Vardhanti celebration in Tirupathi and Tallapaka. The couple later then moved to the United States in 1993. Now, the couple established the Spiritual Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization in Cordova, Tennessee and train children and young adults in classical Kuchipudi dance.

Dr. Ramana and Smt. Chandra Prabha along with their students performed in TANA 2017 conference at Saint Louis, MO and NATA 2017 conference at Chicago, IL. In addition, they gave several performances for Telugu Association of Memphis, India Association of Memphis and India Cultural Center and Temple. The Indian Ballet Theater and its parent organization Spiritual Foundation receives annual funding from the Tennessee government through the Tennessee Arts Commission to preserve, protect, and promote Indian Arts and Culture.     

Dr. Ramana and Smt. Chandra Prabha will be performing at the American Telugu Convention on Saturday, June 2, 2018 immediately after Srinivasa Kalyanam. The convention is scheduled from May 31-June 2 at Irving Convention Center Las Collins, Dallas, Texas.  

Yaswanth Vasili
University of Georgia Honors- December 2020
Finance and International Business Majors
Spanish Minor
901-489-1132
yaswanthtotal90@yahoo.com