A dazzling performance that brought honour to the nation

by Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

Relatively unknown to Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the most celebrated theatre festival in the world, Ranganika (Island of Dance) a production by Arakavila Theatre Foundation has marked Sri Lanka’s name not only at the festival securing four star rating but also among thousands of fans who attended the festival. Owing to the unique Sri Lankan dances such as Asadrusha Vannama, Nonchi Kolama, the performance attracted scores of reviews in leading newspapers in Scotland including Scotsman. In fact, with its dedicated troupe and colourful costumes, Arakavila Theatre Foundation has stalled the show among many contenders from across the world. Apart from the unique exposure to international audience, the members of the troupe had brought home tonnes of invaluable experiences together with a lot of goodies to their kith and kin.

Ranganika was made up of six items including folk dance, devil dance, torch dance, a ‘Vannam’ from Up Country dance while ‘Vadigapaduna’ from low country dance and a creation based on ‘Kolam’. ‘Rananika’ team consists of 18 students. Among the Vannam in the Ranganika Asadrusha Vannama is prominent. It has a special place among the 18 dances of this genre in the upcountry dance tradition. Originally these poetical creations were meant to be chanted at meetings of poets gathered in the city of Kandy for poetic dialogue. Later they came to be choreographed as dance forms expressive of the meaning of each Vannama.

The ‘Asadrusha Vannama’ serves to invoke the blessings of the triple gem and gods at the commencement of a dance recital. It is a paean to the virtues of the triple gem.

Wadiga Patuna is another spectacular item in Ranganika. It is a spectacular form of dance among the ritualistic dance forms such as Suniyam, a principle dance form in the thovil which is a common type of dance in the Low Country Dance Tradition and also known as Suniyam Yagaya, Suniyam Kepilla and Menikpala Yagaya.

According to legend, the Brahmins from the land of Wadiga arrived in Sri Lanka to dispel a Suniyama, a curse by Mara, the God of death, on queen Menikpala on the invitation of king Mahasammata who was considered as the world’s first dancer.

Wadiga Patuna is a dance which recreates the arrival of Wadigas to Sri Lanka. There is another school of thought that Wadigas could not cure the queen and they arrived in Sri Lanka for a ritual not for a Suniyam.

Nonchi Kolama (A dance evoking sense of irony) which is unique to Sri Lanka had attracted attention of the reviewers. Nonchi Kolama occupies the pride of place in Low Country Dance tradition. An oval-shaped threshing floor (Kamatha) following the harvesting of the paddy is used for the performance of Nonchi Kolama.

One of the salient features of the Nonchi Kolama is complex emotions are expressed by only gesticulations as facial expressions are not possible with masks on. Nonchi, an ugly woman tries hard to portray herself as astounding beauty and her attempts generate irony.

A tom-tom beater exposes an officer. Nonchi comes with her two children and tries to drag home her heavily intoxicated husband which creates the crux of the performance.

A dance to god Dholaha (Thelamy) was another item which made the performance colourful. In the low country dance tradition, the main dance ritual is performed in a specially constructed hut. Of the various dance rituals performed in the hut, the principal dance is done in the name of God-Dholaha. It is called “Thelmay”.

Of the costumes in the low-country dance tradition, a special costume decorated with beads is used for “Thelmay”. The dance is rhythmic and dignified and it includes features such as artistic twirling, leaping and somersaulting. So energising is it to watch, that it spontaneously draws members of the audience to join the dance.

Nonchi Kolama

Perhaps, ‘The Village Life’ was the item which depicted the village life in terms of folk dance and folk songs. The village life which is based on agriculture, is always associated with See-pada (four-stanza poems), Goyam Netum (dances associated with reaping of paddy), Kalagedi Netum (dancing with pots) and Lee Keli (dance with clubs) which help spell out the weariness of the farm-hands.

The cast of Ranganika (The Land of Dance) comprised (dancers) Janaki Hill, Ruksala Roshani, Kosala Harshani, Lakshani Sandarenu, Jayani Koshila, Kushmanthi Thilini, Nilantha Sanjeewa, Randika Kasun Nilakshana, Isuru Chathuranga, Janaka Maduranga, Suchitha Mangala, Asiri Madusanka, Denesh Madushanka, (Drummers) Pabalu Erange, Chathuranga Chitrajith, Ranga Nuwantha and Buddika Hasantha. The choreography and costume designed for Ranganika was by Janaki Hill.

According to the members of the troupe, from embarking on to the flight to their stay in Scotland and return to Sri Lanka. Troupe received heartiest greetings. For instance, cabin crew of the flight offered Ranganika team with best they could afford in terms of hospitality. The troupe’s stay at the festival venue was comfortable with a cook in attendance. This would have given them more practising space. Since the schedules were planned in such a way that the troupe get one or two off days, had also contributed to spectacular show which was rated as four star.

It should be mentioned here that five star rating is the highest which even most of the professional teams have failed to achieve. Sri Lankans in the city of Edinburgh who are either students or domiciled there, were conspicuous in their continuous presence for Ranganika. Parading the streets sporting colourful costumes would have been fun and frolic as well as a novel experience for the troupe which is quite not possible in Sri Lanka.

Arakavila Dance and Theatre Foundation (ADTF) was set up in 2008. However, the activities including theatre workshops of the foundation have been carried out under the banner of ‘Diriya Daruwo’ since 2006.

Earlier the objective was to conduct a programme to develop leadership skills of the students. A workshop titled Leadership Training and Motivation Programme was conducted in diverse parts of the country. The practical workshop sans paper work was aimed at eliminating stage freight of the students, developing their leadership qualities and building team spirit on the platform of dance and theatre.

In addition to the workshop, Peter Hill and Mrs. Janaki Hill granted 30 scholarships to children of the village with single parents; either mother or father, for their education. The monthly scholarships which bear the recipients’ expenses for education will continue until they conclude their education.

Subsequently, with the sponsorship of SriLankan Airlines, the Workshop was conducted in 12 regions of the Island with the participation of students from 250 schools. Since the majority of students are from the village of Arakavila, ‘Diriya’ ‘Daruwo’ was re-launched as Arakavila Dance and Theatre Foundation registered under the Company Act No 7 of 2007 with registration number of J.A.287 and also pending registration with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The intense competition for education has deprived present day children of childhood and gone are the days children enjoyed excursions into the forests and pluck succulent wild fruits like ‘Dan’ (an indigenous fruit similar to berry in Europe) and watching fish like ‘Handaya’ (a fish with a moon-like dot on its head) in the canals of the village. Children of today are engaged in a rat race where they attend school from morning to evening and thereafter attend private tuition classes only to return home late in the evening with a satchel which is bigger than the children themselves!

One of the noble objectives of the Foundation is to give back the children the joys of childhood through dance, theatre and other forms of visual and performing arts.

Presently, the Foundation conducts workshops on traditional Up Country, Low Country, and Indian Classical Dance and on music. In addition, the Foundation also conducts a Leadership Training Programme and an English Language Teaching Programmes to improve students’ language and communication skills in English. It also enhances the creativity on the part of the students and is aimed at training students in accessing growing body of knowledge based on Art, Culture and Literature.

The foundation intends to eliminate vice in the village through art and in preserving traditional forms of arts in their original forms.

Productions of the foundation

The ‘Diriya Daruwo’ is a Leadership Training and Motivation Programme. Under which a practical workshop with the intention of taping inherent skills of the children and augmenting them was conducted in diverse parts of the country. So far, children from over 250 schools have participated in the workshop.

Chalana

From the responses of the students, it was clear that workshop had brought about a positive change in the lives of the participants.

‘Chalana’

Chalana is an evening of classical and contemporary dance. It is not confined to traditional dance but also depicts creations and the concert is presented in the form of a drama.

The story unfolds in the household of a traditional dance ‘Guru’ who has a critical outlook on contemporary dance scene that is under the influence of popular dance forms such as ‘Hip-Hop’. Note: Excerpt from the Review

‘Faith’

‘Faith’ is a short film about a destiny of a girl with dearth of education from a lower stratum of the society who has been duped by a fake lover. She becomes pregnant and the lover, who runs a car sale, refuses to marry her.

The film ends with the girl being driven crazy by the circumstances and rendered penniless begging with a girlchild.

Perhaps, the most striking scene is the one where the girl sends her child to a car stopped on the road and the man was a bit reluctant to retrieve his purse from his pocket to get some change. The man notices the woman. The woman notices that it was her ex-lover who had by now, married a wealthy woman and leads a luxurious life.

He races the engine and vanishes from the scene. The short film is marked for its brevity in diction and evocative images and visuals especially where the flashback is employed.