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| Sunday, 18 January 2004 |
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Vajira Chitrasena: Drumming up a storm by LAKMAL WELABADA The students of the veteran dancer Vajira Chitrasena are preparing for another unique ballet - 'Berahanda' (the sound of drums).
"Good deeds will give favourable results while wrongs will give evil consequences. And none can change it. It is the truth and the cause that drag us along in this Samsara. This Buddhist thought is the basis for the story of 'Berahanda'," says Vajira who will celebrate the 58th year on stage this year, marking 65 years of dedicated service to the dance field in Sri Lanka. The first scene of the ballet unfolds a divine love between God Sakra (who disguises himself as a handsome prince) and Prabha, a beautiful weaver. Shortly after their meeting, Sakra has to return to the heavens, but reveals his true identity to Prabha before he leaves. Prabha gets pregnant and has a beautiful son. She offers Sakra's baby to the Goddesses of trees (Vruksha Dewathawi) and dies.
The child grows up in the loving care of the Goddesses. But one day the mischievous brat finds a herd of oxen in the jungle, gets fascinated by them and drags one of them to a cave, his play area. He kills it and makes a drum out of its skin. The other oxen complained of this to Sakra. The last scene shows how the boy gets punished for the sin he committed. Neither Sakra nor any other God or Goddess could prevent the Yakkas (devils) from dragging the boy to hell. The cast of thirty includes adults as well as children of 13 years upwards. Somabandu Vidyapathy designs the costumes. 'Berahanda' will be performed to the rhythms of the Indian classical music. It will be staged at the Lionel Wendt theatre from January 30 to February 1. The first day is reserved with two special school shows at a concessional rate of Rs,50 a ticket at 11.00 am and 3.00 pm. "We decided to have the special school shows as our younger generation should know the value of preserving the traditional dance forms in this country. They will be the trail blazers of this art," explained Vajira. |
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