"[That was the beginning of the 60s]. In those days, Sangeet Natak Akadem conferences deemed only four Indian styles as classical dances, and Kuchipudi was not one of them. Owing to the profusion of dance masters who were Kuchipudi trained, Kuchipudi was termed as a "filmy dance" or Koothu. However, in the 1958 Natya Kala Conference under the leadership of Banda Kanakalingeswara Rao, Vissa Appa Rao and others, Kuchipudi was just beginning to get some amount of recognition."