The Music and Dance College was a branch of Sri Thyagaraja Govt. Music and Dance College, Ramkoti, established by the Govt. in Old city region for the aspirants of art forms back in 1995 in Aryasamaj Mandir, Shalibanda area ,Old city. Sri Akella Mallikarjuna Sarma garu, a violin vidwan was the in charge principal of the branched college. It was not an easy task for both the principal and staff to maintain a new college at its best. They worked diligently to run the college successfully.
The staff mentioned below worked for the college in its early steps which were all deputed from Ramkoti and Secunderabad colleges:
- Sri Ch.Raghunath - Tabla (disciple of Tabla maestro, Sri Nanda Kumar, Lecturer at S.T. College of music and dance, Ramkoti)
- Sri Subramanyam -Hindusthani vocal (disciple of Sri Rajulkar of Gwalior Gharana)
- Sri Chinta Adinarayana Sarma - Kuchipudi dance {disciple of Sri Vempati Chinna Satyam}.
In December 1996 College was made independent and full-fledged with the above mentioned staff deputed from Ramkoti and Secunderabad music colleges and Smt. L. Vijayalakshmi garu, a Bharatanatyam exponent, disciple of Sri T.K Narayana and Dr Uma Rao, was the 1st principal.
After that, Smt M. Saritha, Carnatic vocal lecturer (disciple of Hyderabad sisters) and Smt Meera Kamble ,Hindusthani vocal lecturer (disciple of Sri Jangayya garu and Smt Vasumathi Dantale) , Sri D. Jayakumaracharya , Mridangam Asst. Lecturer (disciple of K. Sudarshanacharya the greatest mridangam vidwan who trained number of mridangam vidwans like Sri Rajagopalacharya (lecturer in mridangam, Ramkoti Music College), Sri D.S.R Murthy ( A top grade mridangam artist) and Sri D. Seshachary who was one of the Hyderabad brothers) were deputed to the college.
Vocal and dance lecturers along with the instrument lecturers conducted various programs in music college as well as nearby temples such as Mahankali temple and Kishen Mandir, etc.
For about 6 years the college was located in the Arya Samaj building, Shalibanda. The Govt has decided to shift the college into the vacant building of Quli Qutub Shah-e stadium, in July 2002.
Smt N.Suwarnalatha garu, a Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam exponent, (disciple of Sri Vedantham Jagannatha Sarma and Sri Adayar K. Lakshmanan at Kalakshetra, Chennai) was appointed as principal. Along with the staff, the college was shifted to the stadium building. In a long span of 14 years the college principals and staff changed. Among the staff, vocal teacher (part-time) namely Smt S. Vasantha Lakshmi and Kuchipudi teacher (part-time) namely Sri M. Kantha Rao were also appointed. Regular staff were deputed from Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Secunderabad- Sri Ravinder Raju, Kathak lecturer; Sri N.C.H.B. Acharya, Vocal lecturer; Sri M. Vijayakumar, Mridangam lecturer; Smt Aruna Asaf Ali, Vocal lecturer; and Smt J. Sarada, Vocal lecturer. Famous Andhra Natyam artist Sri Kalakrishna has also worked in this college. Among regular students, students of Govt. City College, High Court advocates and Ministerial staff used to attend the music classes.
The staff and students used to give monthly programs which were named as Nela Nela Vennela not only in college but also in the other places and temples. College used to conduct annual day programs . “KALAPARICHAYAM” was one of the biggest events held between 2002 and 2010, every summer, conducted on behalf of Department of Language and Culture, in order to gather students and introduce music and dance to them; and also publicise and popularise the music college in concerned districts allotted by the Department of Languages adn Culture. On behalf of the college, around 2000 student were trained by the teaching staff.
College also actively participated in the state festival programs such as Dusshera and Bonalu programs and also for Satarupa-a program commemorating different art forms, conducted by the Dept. of Language and Culture. The institution conducts Annual Tyagaraja Sangeetha Aradhana and invites other college staff to participate in this divine ceremony.
Later in 2006, the college was named as Sri Annamacharya Government Music and Dance College.
Various programs were successfully conducted due to the combined efforts of students, staff (teaching and office) principal. The Director of the Dept. Of Languages and Culture took an initiative towards venturing for a new, private building for the college. Newspaper advertisements were given in the month of September 2016 in quest of new building. Sri Musapet Ramaraju, Chairman of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, offered to provide his building in Gudimalkapur, as he was an ardent follower and connoisseur of Indian music and fine art forms.
In due course of time, college was shifted to Gudimalkapur in October 2016. With the help of painstaking efforts put by Sri Mamidi Harikrishna garu- Director, Dept of Language and Culture, the Principal S.V Ramanamurthy and all the staff. Now the college runs efficiently with 600 students, conducting various programs.