The name KUCHIPUDI denotes both the dance style and the tiny, remote village where it was born. Kuchipudi (shortened form of the full name Kuchelapuram or Kuchilapuri) is in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh, it is 32 miles from Vijayawada. In fact it is the dance form which has the same name as it’s birthplace the kuchipudi village. The Sangeet Natak Akademi currently confers classical status on eight Indian classical dance styles: Bharatanatyam (Tamil Nadu), Kathak (North and Central India), Kathakali (Kerala), Kuchipudi (Andhra Pradesh), Odissi (Odisha), Manipuri (Manipur), Mohiniyattam (Kerala), and Sattriya (Assam). The Natya Shastra is the foundational treatise for classical dances of India, and similar to all leading Indian classical dance forms, Kuchipudi too evolved as a religious art rooting back to the age-old Hindu Sanskrit text Natya Shastra. This text is attributed to the ancient scholar Bharata Muni (circa 500BCE - 500CE).