High priest of dancing who defined the era - 90th birth anniversary of Chithrasena

Author: Ranga Chandrarathne
Date:23/01/2011
Source: Sunday Observer

Chithrasena (26 January 1921-July 18 2005) who defined his era in his chosen field left an indelible footprints in the sand of time like many great personalities of humanity. His 90th birth anniversary is a seminal mark to look back on his trailblazing career in dancing with its overarching influence on Sri Lankan contemporary dancing. His greatest contribution to the field was the adaption of the traditional dance into modern theatre, thus infusing life into a dying tradition. Most of the prominent dancers and professionals in the field have either been disciples of the Chithrasena the guru or have substantially influenced by his practise.

Maestro Chithrasena

His death marked not only an end of an era which was dominated by cultural giants who had shaped the soul of independent Sri Lanka but also the emergence of a culturally alienated generation who have become victims of popular culture dominated by cheap movie stars from Hollywood and Bollywood.

His death occurred against the back drop of deteriorating indigenous arts and the sweeping wind of alienism in the spheres of culture, language and system of social values that have been held sacred for centuries. Sri Lankan dancing has been degraded to the status of being an ornamental art which is common at weddings, openings to beautify these occasions.

Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy in an eulogy on Chithrasena says " To understand the importance of Chitrasena, we must place him in the context of history. Chitrasena belonged to that extraordinary generation of intellectuals and artists, whose genius was inspired by a rejection of colonialism and a commitment to national regeneration.

Today we take so much of this for granted. When we see a batik garment, do we for a moment thank Ena de Silva for reviving the batik industry? When we see Sinhala theatre, are we grateful to Sarathchandra?

When we see Sinhala films, do we always acknowledge Lester James Pieris? When we read the critical analysis of Tamil novels do we remember Professor Kailasapathy, and when we see Kandyan dance performed in a classical manner do we thank Chitrasena.?This generation gave us back our traditions but within the context of a modern nation state.

What were the hallmarks of this generatio? Firstly, they came from bilingual backgrounds. How many of us know that Chitrasena was born Maurice Dias and that his father was more at home with Shakespeare than with the Asian arts?.

This bilingualism gave them access to the Sinhala heritage, but also to world civilization from which they would draw. Secondly there was a search for authenticity and a commitment to the revival of indigenous tradition.

In doing so they crossed class, caste and gender barriers in search of the art form. They felt that our traditions belonged to all of us and were open to all of us to enjoy and perform, much like Rukmini Devi, his counterpart in Tamil Nadu. For this boldness they often received jeers and hard looks because they were crossing feudal practices, but they persevered nevertheless.

They discovered, regenerated, and filled with new energy, art forms that were quietly dying during the period of colonization. This commitment to revival would have made them great national artists but they went beyond that.

They had a great deal of respect for other traditions, both within Sri Lanka and abroad. One part of my family was dedicated to carnatic music and bharata natyam, Chitrasena and Vajira forged close links with them, they would attend each others performance and I would sit back and watch as they engaged in an artistic give and take which to the untalented such as myself was an extraordinary experience. "

Tradition caught up in whirlwind of commercialism

One of the ground realities that Chithrasena had to face at the tail end of his career was the overarching influence of commercialism on traditional art forms. The collapse of the social order which regimented the traditional art forms in the form of caste system and a royal patronage, has adversely affected the proponents of traditional art forms.

Maestro Chithrasena

Though commercialism is to be blamed for the situation, other factors such as the dwindling audience for serious art and the absence of the culture of appreciating serious work of art have also contributed to the present crisis in dancing. Against this back drop, it is not an estrange phenomenon that dancing has rendered as a highly commercilised 'flash art' which is of momentary value.

Another factor that adversely affects contemporary dancing in Sri Lanka is the absence of informed criticism on dancing. This is, perhaps, due to the sheer lack of attention and recognition paid to dancing as a serious art form and also due to the gross ignorance on the part of a mushrooming fraternity of critics.

It should be mentioned here that though there had been a somewhat evolved culture of criticism with regard to literature, paintings and visual and performing arts, it was rare to see an informed criticism on dancing or a ballet.

Even the established critics were reluctant to make a commentary of a ballet owing, perhaps, to ignorance of language and idiom to describe ballet or the unrepentant acceptance of the widespread myth that dancing is an art for cheap entertainment. It is pity, however, that this callous disregard on the part of a fraternity of critics has, by and large, contributed to re-affirm the popular myth on dancing.

It should be mentioned that to revisit the Chitrasena's practice of dancing and his masterpieces, especially in the light of the present crisis in Sri Lankan dancing which has been relegated to as a cheap form of entertainment, appealing to raw senses.

One of the significant features of Chithrasena's practices was that his consideration of dancing not as a mere form of art which manifests Sri Lankan culture but an art capable of expressing one's inner-most soul. He stressed this fact in performances such as Nurthanjali and Navanjali which were adapted to traditional theatre.

Through his larger-than-life personality, Chithrasena has left indelible footprints in the arena of Sri Lankan dancing. Perhaps, he will be remembered by the posterity as a peerless pioneer who uplifted the Sri Lankan tradition of dancing from its status of being a ritual to a fully-fledged art form suitable for proscenium stage.

He not only introduced ballet to Sri Lankan theatre but was also the pioneering choreographer in Sri Lankan dancing.

He laid a firm foundation for dancing admixing new features to it, making it suitable even for an international audience. His stage personality has become a prototype for aspiring dancers and he created theatrical marvels in his monumental work, ballet Karadiya.

For instance, the dream scene in Karadiya is a fine example of creating theatrical marvels which are inherently linked to the work. Most of the scenes in ballets Nala Damayanthi and Shivaranga remind us of the mystic quality in Asian myths. On the other hand, Kinkini Kolama manifests visual features of old Sri Lankan folk theatre.

Dancing in a broader perspective is an art which portrays the material world, beauty and rhythmic movements of the body. It not only provides a fresh perspective of life for the dancer but also for the deserving audience.

The essence of dancing, irrespective of diverse traditions, lies in its ability to entertain the dancer through rhythmic movements of the body and to convey it to the audience as an expression of emotions.

It is in this light that we should appreciate Chithrasena and his trailblazing career in dancing. Chithrasena's practice would strike a delicate balance between two extremes of totally being materialistic and being spiritual, completely forgetting the existence of the body.

Why ballet is out of the limelight - Sri Lankan ballet

Author: Indeewara Thilakarathne and Ranga Chandrarathne
Date:31/01/2011
Source: Sunday Observer

The existence of Sri Lankan ballet is polemical, although the genre of ballet has not evolved in Sri Lanka. For most of the art lovers, the world ballet remai ns alien in Sri Lankan context although it is popular in Russia, China and in many nations of the world.

For the new generation, 'ballet' is a word in the dictionary or in an encyclopedia which has a vague meaning. Perhaps, they have not seen a ballet being performed.

The same fate befell drama and to a certain extent Sinhala films too. However, it is not clear whether the present plight resulted from the alienation of audiences from Sinhalese ballet or whether the artists are unable to make their work relevant to the fast changing needs of the audience.

Ballet in its original form is, somewhat, a strange medium to Sri Lankan audience which is used to watch plays full of dialogues.

For them ballet with music, dance and gesticulations would have been a strange medium. Still some spectators watch ballet for colourful costumes, personalities of actors and beautiful body movements and not for dramatic qualities. However, this is not the kind of dialogue and communication that ballet maintains with the audience.

The purpose of ballet is to create aesthetic feelings in the audience by means of music and body movements. It seems that Sri Lankan audience still finds it difficult to appreciate drama without traditional ingredients of dialogues, character portrayals and gesticulations.

However, ballet has been considered as a dramatic manifestation that creates zest among an audience. In a broader sense, ballet is an art form which creates a message by using music, movements, lighting and sets. The basic premise of ballet is to narrate a story.

History of ballet

Dance is prominent throughout history. Traditions of narrative dance evolved in China, India, Indonesia and Ancient Greece. However, theatrical dance was well-established in the wider world. In the last century, the United States also developed its own ballet traditions, most notably with choreographer George Balanchine.

Although interest in contemporary dance has expanded to include modern dance, jazz, flamenco and other forms, ballet has endured the test of time and is still taught and performed.

The etymology of the word "ballet" corresponds to the art form's development. It is a beautiful dance.

Choreography was adapted from court dance steps. Performers dressed in fashions of the times. For women it meant formal gowns that covered their legs to the ankle. Early ballet was participatory, with the audience joining the dance towards the end.

Engraving of the first scene of the Ballet Comique de la Reine. Domenico da Piacenza was one of the first dancing masters. Along with his students, Antonio Cornazano and Guglielmo Ebreo, he was trained in dance and responsible for teaching nobles the art. Da Piacenza left one work: De arte saltandi et choreus ducendi (On the art of dancing and conducting dances), which was put together by his students.

Ballet, if not the first, produced and shown was Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine (1581) and was a ballet comique (ballet drama).In the same year, the publication of Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino, a technical manual on court dancing, both performance and social, helped to establish Italy as a centre of technical ballet development.

However, ballet is now being used to portray a religious concept or philosophical ideas in music and dance. And there are ballets consisting only music and dance (Plotless ballets).

Ballet has been developed as a serious art form in the West. Originally ballet depicted Western myths and fairy tales with simple plots. However, it has acquired complex nature by integration of diverse tradition of dancing as well as characteristics of other art forms.

The themes of ballet evolve from fairy tales, Shakespeare tragedies to world war, violence and feminism. It grammar of choreography is enriched by characteristics of Asian, African, Jazz and other music traditions.

The basis for the Sri Lankan ballet can be traced to the "Group Modern", a troupe that came to Sri Lanka in 1935 with Rabindranath Tagore.

A generation of Sri Lankan youth inspired by the performance went to India and learnt drama. Ballet developed in Sri Lanka from the 1940's along with the Indian dance drama.

The influence of Indian dance drama was a marked characteristic in early Sri Lankan ballets. However, this was changed with Premakumara Epitawala" Sala Lihini Sandeshaya". It was closer to a musical drama than to a ballet.

Sri Lankan ballet assumed character and stature with Chithrasena's production of "Karadiya" in 1961. Chithrasena's "Nala Damayanth" and Karadiya showed mix characteristics of indigenous, Indian and Western traditions of drama.

They are considered as first ever Sri Lankan ballets. Chithrasena's subsequent works such as "Kinkini Kolama" (based on low country dancing) and "Shiva Ranga" can be considered as researches which depicted characteristics of Kolam, humour as well as to a certain extent alienation of audience with the characters of the ballet.

Though "Shiva Ranga" is based on Indian legend, it has not stuck to Indian dance drama style but used modern style of ballet. The style is a result of a combination of Indian and Western abstract ballet styles. Contribution made by Premakumar Epitawala, Shesha Palihakkara and Basil Mihiripenna should also be appreciated as important steps towards establishing Sri Lankan ballet.

Not reacting to the new trends in Sri Lankan, audience which was gradually shifted from appreciating serious form of art like ballet to cheap movements of dance , music and cheap romance, has also been contributed to the isolation of ballet in Sri Lanka. Ballet has not been considered as a serious form of art with Sri Lankan characteristics. Although new generation of choreographers tried had to resurrect the dying tradition, their attempts have not been received due attention.

These young dramatists tried , especially to produce short ballets; Greek Tragedies, Shakespearean drama, Japanese drama, Biblical stories as well as short ballets on themes of war, prisoners of war, ethnic strife, homosexual issues and religious contradictions.

The total isolation of Ballet in Sri Lanka is a clear indication of the deteriorating standards of literary criticisms and critics as well as the lowering public taste. Sri Lankan audience is increasingly relied upon flash music and cheap soap operas telecast over television.

In order to revive Sri Lankan tradition of ballet, it is imperative that ballet should be offered its due place. It is also necessary to launch a re-education programme from school to universities, with a view to create an informed audience.