Arts
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In
step with tradition
The first scene of the ballet sees the love story of God Sakra (who disguises himself as a handsome prince) and Prabha, a beautiful weaver. Shortly after their meeting God Sakra has to return to the heavens. Before he leaves he reveals his true identity to Prabha. She gives birth to a beautiful son and offers the baby to the Goddesses of the trees, before she dies. The child raised in the loving care of the goddesses, one day finds a herd of oxen in the jungle. Fascinated by them he drags one to a cave where he kills it and makes a drum out of its skin. The other oxen complain to Sakra. The last scene shows the boy being punished for the sin he committed and how neither Sakra nor any other God or Goddesses can prevent the devils from dragging the boy to hell. With over 65 years of dedicated service to the field of dancing, veteran dancer Vajira says that the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation will continue trying to perform 'new ballets'. The show will see the passing of the torch to a new generation, in a sense. The children who danced in the first production of Berahanda have grown up and the people who played minor roles are now in adult roles," she says. Having started dancing around 1946, Vajira celebrated her 50th anniversary on stage in 1996. "My age group have now retired, I think I am one of the oldest," she says. Her students are now grown up and are dance teachers themselves. "I think it is wonderful," she says. Dancing is no mere translation or abstraction of life, it is life itself. What these dancers are doing is preserving an art form that has always been part of our culture. Unfortunately there are many people just imitating western dance forms and Vajira is saddened by the reality that there are not many seriously interested in taking this form of dance forward. "Many just use it for their benefit, for commercial reasons. No one has interest in any deep study. "Everyone is just trying to dance, they are television dancers," she says. "Berahanda" will be staged at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on January 31 and February 1 at 7.00 p.m. There will also be two special school shows on January 30 at 11 a.m and 3 p.m. A rich
rendering of Schubert The first section of her recital was neither operatic arias nor popular songs, but a mix of Edwardian Drawing Room songs and Schubert Lieder. Her voice seems particularly suited to the rendering of Schubert Lieder and both "Lied de Mignon" and Gretchen am Spinnrade"- Schubert's settings of Goethe's poems - sung in German illustrated the fruits of the training she has undergone in singing since she left our shores in 1998. If the songs by Roger Quilter and John Ireland lacked anything, it was, in contrast to her later popular songs, less convincing in the understanding of its contents and delivery. She shows great promise as a singer of Schubert Lieder, and may do well to take it seriously. Kishani ended her recital with operatic arias by Bellini, Gounod, Catalani, Puccini and Verdi. She prefaced these arias by a helpful summary of the aria and its context in relation to the action of the opera. In so doing, she showed maturity and poise in her stage presence, which helped a great deal in drawing the attention of the audience to what followed. Her sense of drama and her technical proficiency was well demonstrated, although she had a tendency to sound a trifle harsh, when pushing her voice too far. The second part of the recital was devoted to popular songs and numbers from musical shows and light opera. Most professional singers now are quite happy to include light music in their repertoire and far from bringing down the tone of the recital, this can often enhance it. In those songs she showed her versatility, which she demonstrated even while she trained under Mary Anne David. These songs were more convincing than the songs sung in English at beginning of her recital. No review of a solo song recital will be complete without a word about the accompanist. I have always maintained that Soundarie David is an accompanist par excellence, and this was no exception. Her involvement with the singer in the popular songs was particularly noticeable, and I have no doubt, contributed immensely to the ultimate success of the recital, which the audience acclaimed in no uncertain manner. -Dr. Lalith Perera Five
sisters, one passion and a canvas of different styles "It was our late father's intention for us to hold an exhibition some day," says Sulekha, the third of the sisters, adding that this is probably the first time in Sri Lanka that five sisters have collaborated to stage an exhibition of this nature. Proposed by the eldest Yashoda, the exhibition was organized within the short period of a month and a half, and saw a variety of art exhibits ranging from oils on canvas, pottery, collage, line drawings, greeting cards etc on display. "We wanted to do this exhibition as a tribute to our father," says Sulekha. It was the second of the five, Dinesha, who first began attending art classes when she was in Grade 1. "Pavithra, the youngest was barely into Montessori when I started, and gradually all my sisters joined in," she reminisces. Their instructor was Kalabhushana, Kalapathi Joe Dambulugala, and the sisters attended his classes until they finished school. They were also regular participants at the exhibitions titled 'Known World, Felt World', which he conducted annually. The eldest, Yashoda, employed at the Ministry of Labour is now a mother of one. She was an active participant at the University art festivals and enjoys doing collage and line drawings. "I like collage because a variety of artistic impressions can be portrayed through this medium," she says referring to the numerous ways of burning, crushing and tearing up paper to merge it into a collage. In addition to her artistic prowess, Yashoda is a talented Kandyan and Bharatha Natyam dancer, and has taught her younger sister Lochana the art as well. An ardent music-lover, she plays the violin too. An anaesthetist attached to the Intensive Care Unit of the National Hospital, Dinesha enjoys collage art, oils on canvas and figures. She is the second in the family, and says that it is difficult to find the time to immerse herself in art now, as she prepares for her post-graduate exams in anaesthesia. "I enjoy sketching situations in everyday life though," she says. Mother of a two-year-old daughter, Sulekha, does most of her paintings at night, "when everyone else is asleep," she says. An ayurvedic doctor in charge of the Wellness Centre at the Trans Asia Hotel, she holds a Bachelor of Ayurvedic in medicine and surgery and is attached to the Holiday Inn Hotel as well. Sulekha's abilities in art are extensive, as she does both abstracts as well as oils. She also enjoys pottery, fabric painting, glass painting, and sculpture. A greeting card fanatic, Lochana, the fourth sister enjoys doing abstract art and collage. She is a translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has been working in the publicity division of the ministry for three years, before moving into the bureau last May. Pursuing higher studies at Law College, she hopes to eventually do international law. The quiet one among them, the youngest Pavithra is an aspiring lawyer. Having passed her attorney's finals, she is currently under apprenticeship and is employed as a control officer at the Ministry of Health. " I enjoy doing collage," she smiles, adding that she paints in the evenings when she is in the mood to do so. Pavithra was a gold medal winner of the Shankar International Children's Art Competition when she was just five years old. It's not often that you find five siblings sharing the same love. Their collective efforts culminated in 'Panchali', an exhibition of 40 crafts and paintings of various aspects of art. Of their achievements, they say in unison, "We owe it all to our master. Without his guidance, we would never have got this far." |
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