A Sri Lankan traditional dancing troupe comprising a group of qualified young dancers are to go around the world showcasing the wonder of traditional dancing and drums.‘Nandana Dance Lanka Academy’ founded by Nandana Werapitiya, a renowned dancer from the Werapitiya Tradition in Kandy has organized a troupe of fulltime dancers who would go around the world to perform.
“Out of more than 2000 applications we selected 60 and for the final group we have nine dancers who are experienced and have studied dancing at length,” said Nandana Werapitiya speaking to the TV Times.
Out of nine all five female dancers are undergraduates from the Aesthetic University and they are undergoing training for the upcoming shows in Europe. They are Gayani Thaithasinghe, Chintha Dilrukshi, Sudarshi Kumari, Imalka Seneviratne and Dilhani Jayasekara.
“There is a big demand for Sri Lankan traditional dance specially in Europe,” says Nandana who is a dancing teacher at the Anglia Academy of Dancing in Norwich. Nandana teaches traditional Sri Lankan dancing at the academy which teaches dancing styles from different parts of the world. “Some of our dancing kits like upcountry ‘Wes Anduma’ and drums like ‘Geta Beraya’ are unique and one can not find anything similar to them anywhere in the world,” he added.
We are a troupe of dancers who would perform and promote only traditional Sri Lankan dancing wherever we go. We also have decided to stick to the traditional dancing attires, Nandana added.
Nandana Werapitiya who himself is an award winning drummer also became the Best Drummer at the Dalada Maligawa and was the Best Drummer at Youth Awards in 1988. Having served as a dancing teacher in several schools, Nandana went to England in 1999 for a performance where he was picked up to teach Sri Lankan traditional dancing to foreign students.
‘Nandana Dance Lanka Academy’ is to perform in Canada, Japan, England, Denmark and a number of other European countries. |
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