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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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Dance to the rhythm of peace by Rikaza Hassan
The New Arts Theatre at the University of Colombo came alive with a festival of dance last Wednesday, the nineteenth, as the students of the university presented a Ridmanjali. The brainchild of a student of the Arts Faculty, Dilini Withanage, it was a presentation not only of entertainment but also the coming together of the six faculties of an institution that is usually seen to be at war with itself. Vannum Aptly titled 'Feet in Fusion, Peace in Motion', the programme showcased a never before seen melting together, through dance, of the variety of still nearly pristine cultures that is to be found in Sri Lanka. The programme commenced in the customary tradition of Lanka with lamps and speeches. A long pause later, the entertainment began with a dance of homage an offering of flowers to Lords Shiva and Ganesh. Two rows of red, white and gold saree clad damsels made their way from the back, oil lamps in their hands, flowers in their long braided hair down to their hips to the accompaniment of divine music. Next on the agenda was Giridevi, a low country dance reflecting the grace and poise of femininity.
Presented by the faculty of arts the performance nevertheless showed a lack of practise and coordination. And then Randahadiya, a faculty of science presentation to the composition of the same name of the veteran Amaradewa. Raa Raa, a semi classical Baratha Natyam dance to a song off the Indian Chandramukhi movie most definitely held the attention of the crowd from start to finish. Presented by Dilini Withanage herself and Prageeth Anuradha Abeyratna, it had all the marks of excellent oriental dancemanship. The bright, colourful costumes, the rhythm of the music and the quite evident talent together put forth a top notch performance. The facial expressions and swift movements so very important in Baratha Natyam was excellently showcased by Abeyratne. Different traditions The first solo performance of the evening, one of 18 vannamas of Kandyan dance, reflected the unwieldy yet graceful movements of the elephant creature. The petite Tilini Nagasingha in her striking outfit of black and blue presented to the crowd the proper poise of this classical dance. She would graced the stage once again with another solo performance Chandramadala to a musical composition originally sung by Sunil Edirisinghe. A yet another classical Kandyan ballet was the duet in dance by Suranga Lakmal Perera and Dilini again. The striking couple clothed in black with glittering blue for the lady and mirrors for her man gracefully set the stage in motion. Not for the last time, Dilini entered the stage, this time to a song sung by Nithya Sri off the film Jeans. The stick dance Dandiya was presented by the ladies from the various faculties. The music of classical western musician Yanni - off his Reflections of Passion album - was heard when Dilini Withanage performed the 'Swan Dance'. The ballet to the mostly up tempo ballad saw Dilini's elegance and poise as she entertained the audience in her sophisticated black and shimmery silver outfit. The faculty of law took a step away from the norm with their presentation of Sandawathiya, the song sung by the upcoming hip hop band with the M Entertainment record label, Centigrade. The Medicine faculty had its Amila Piyasena perform the Kiralaa Vannama depicting the motions of the kiralaa bird while the faculty of Management had Anne Nelusha Arumainayagam present to the audience a gypsy dance. Sankalana, saw the fusion of Baratha Natyam, Kandyan, Low Country and Sabargama dance in a combination of different traditions and faculties.Nuwan Maddumabandara of the Sripali University held the crowd spellbound when he performed the 'Fire Dance' for those gathered. Holding two cones of blazing fire, he dizzyingly twirled and spun around the stage to the unwavering gaze of the audience. To the applause and amazement of the crowd he proceeded to stroke the fire over his bare arms, chest and back. To even more applause he also showed off the art of eating a stick fully on fire. A notably remarkable performance by one so young.The talent was ample, the effort put in was palpable. If not for Dilini Withanage, her ideas and labours however the performance would never have happened. Set peace In an endeavour to bring together the warring sections of her university and in this time of hate and violence, to bring together those segregated by race and religion, she conceived the novel that was 'Ridmanjali'. Over six months of planning and collective hard work saw these factions on not very good terms become on very good terms, almost sibling like. Dilini herself learnt dance from the early age of seven. A former student of Musaeus College, she is currently reading for her degree in International Relations. She recently won a scholarship to follow a summer course in Norway on 'Conflict resolution and Peace Building' where she made a presentation on the situation in Sri Lanka. An astute businesswoman by her own right and still very much a creative dancer, the young woman has struck the perfect balance in her life.In a university that does not support the aesthetics, the young men and women have dared to make a difference by tapping into their creativity. Through the gazelle like movements of oriental dance they bridged cultures and taught themselves mutual respect and tolerance. As with any other programme, it had its flaws. However they not only made their kith and kin proud with their talent but they achieved for themselves the most vital objective. They set peace in motion. |
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