|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 5 January 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Ballet foundation gathers momentum by R.S. Karunaratne World-renowned Bolshoi dancers will perform at the Russian Centre in Colombo on January 11 and 12. This will pave the way for setting up a ballet foundation in Sri Lanka.
"The world will commemorate Rudolf Nureyev's tenth death anniversary this year. And Bolshoi dancers from Nureyev's birth place - Russia - will be here to mark the event", said Gwen Herat who has plans to set up a ballet foundation in association with the Russian Centre in Colombo.Taking time off from a busy schedule, Gwen Herat said the object was to promote classical ballet in Sri Lanka while supporting opera and other forms of classical dance. Having been a promising ballet student under Timmy Ingleton, Mrs. Herat knows what ballet means. Although she herself did not make it to the top as a professional ballet dancer, her meeting with Rudolf Nureyev gave her a fresh bout of zest to do something for the beautiful form of dance. Then she started reading and gathering information about ballet with a view to becoming a professional critic on the subject. As a first step she wrote the biography of Rudolf Nureyev that has become an authoritative reference book. "I'm glad more and more students are taking to ballet dance in Sri Lanka. And most of them are sitting the Royal Academy of Dancing examinations", Mrs. Herat said. With a lot of experience in ballet, she believes that it is not an isolated dance form. "When you speak of ballet, you cannot avoid making reference to classical music, operas, dramas, and Shakespearean plays", she says. Although there is a handful of ballet dancers Mrs. Herat is perhaps the only ballet critic in Sri Lanka. Having written numerous newspaper articles on Rudolf Nureyev, Mrs. Herat capped them all with his brilliant biography entitled Immortal Nureyev. "It was a stupendous task. Although I wrote and rewrote the biography several times, I was not happy with the final product. So, I went to London and consulted John Gregory - the famous ballet historian and author. His advice helped me to produce Immortal Nureyev. Mrs. Herat said the proposed ballet foundation will be set up in collaboration with the Russian Centre in Colombo. Once established, the foundation would provide training in Bolshoi, Kirov, and national Russian ballet", she said. "The foundation will not confine itself to ballet alone. There will be several cultural programs and exchanges with Russia - a country that has a rich cultural heritage. Our aim is to produce at least a few professional ballet dancers", she said. Like any other major project of this nature, the proposed ballet foundation will be backed by the Russian Centre in Colombo and a host of other sponsors. "It's a joint effort", Mrs. Herat said convincingly. ###### Relieving impressions of light
Reminiscence (Punarvartha) is Sampath Delgoda's manner of immortalising these drifting sensations with the magnetic tip of his brush stroke.
The exhibition marks the first solo effort of this B.A. (Hons.) scholar from the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Kelaniya, who is also a talented cover designer and an art director in teledrama. Reminiscence will be opened by Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara and Prof. Senaka Bandaranayake at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery on January 10 at 3 p.m. It will continue till January 13 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. - (J.L.) ###### Novel experience for theatre goers : Katuyahana by Deepal Warnakulasuriya Katuyahana (Bed of Nettles) the latest play by Visakesa Chandrasekaran, will be staged on January 10 at the Tower Hall Theatre, Colombo. The drama has three outstation shows, to its credit with the forth scheduled for staging at Dambulla today. The drama reveals the struggle in a middle class family, where an unsatisfied marriage is continued for the sake of protecting a wholesome image to the outside world. Visakesa in his first and second creations; Thahanam Adaviya and Devadasi spoke about the war or ethnic issues. Here, he has taken a new approach to tackle issues, which although familiar, are often not spoken of. These include family bonds, homosexuality, adultery by both husbands and wives in today's society. The play's, set to be a great experience to theatre goers. Katuyahana, revolves around Surein, a lyrics writer who marries a singer (Thushani) but keeps her inside the house, putting an end to her singing career. He is completely confused about his sexual feelings and finds satisfaction with one of his brothers-in-law (Asela). How Thushani responds to her husband's homosexuality and his affair with her brother-in-law give some interesting food for thought. Visakesa, a lawyer by the profession, who works for a human rights agency in Australia, said that his first script was banned by the Censor Board and therefor he had to change some scenes in the drama. "I have taken every possible efforts to retain the message of the drama. It means it is not obscene, but, sometimes parents may feel embarrassed to watch the drama with their young children. I assure that we have given it a highly disciplined tone to deliver our message", he said. Udeni Alwis, Duleeka Marapana, Sajith Silva perform the characters while, Hivos organisation of Netherlands support for the production of the drama. ###### Life is an Art is my life by ANJANA GAMAGE
"Art is my life - life is an art" says, Nisansala Karunaratne, who although born in Sri Lanka, is currently following a course leading to a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Photography and Graphic Design at San Jose State University, California, USA. Nisansala is on a short visit to Sri Lanka, for the specific purpose of holding her maiden exhibition on photography, painting and textile. Titled - Art is my life - life is an art, the exhibition is an integration of thoughts and feelings of the artist and will be held at the Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo 7, from January 7 to 9 from 10 am to 7. pm daily. The exhibition will be opened by Minister of Justice, Law Reform, National Integration and Buddha Sasana W.J.M. Lokubandara and the former American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ananda Guruge on January 7.
"I am a nature lover and I have put all my thoughts on nature and life on to canvas or have captured them through the camera lens, she sad. The beautiful sceneries hard to explain with words have been captured in film. Nisansala has also used different techniques in the dark room as an added feature that both enhances the quality of the photograph provides an additional beauty to the exhibition. Nisansala uses a variety of media to express her thoughts and she uses oil on canvas, paper negatives, photograms, landscape photography and textile. "Instead of using pen and paper as a writer would, I have used a paintbrush, canvas and camera to express my thoughts and feelings," she points out. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Impressions evolve with light. From day-break's dissolution of the
earth's mantle of mist in the growing gold of the rising sun, to the
blurring of all that is transient in the silver shroud of the dying dusk,
there is a succession of metamorphosis in the landscape and all that is
strewn on it.
He re-enacts the era of "impressionism" in 23 landscapes,
capturing their natural colour variations under the changing tints of out
door light conditions.
