Shobha Naidu

Sobha Naidu (1956 – 14 October 2020) was an Indian Kuchipudi dancer, teacher, and choreographer. A disciple of the celebrated Kuchipudi maestro Vempati Chinna Satyam, she became one of the foremost practitioners of the art form. Popular for her role as Satyabhama in cultural dance dramas, she was the principal of the Srinivasa Kuchipudi Art Academy in Hyderabad. Over the course of her career, Sobha Naidu trained thousands of students and choreographed numerous dance-dramas. In recognition of her significant contributions to classical dance, Sobha Naidu was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2001 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991.