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The beautiful Vajira as the Swan Princess in Nala Damayanthi. The striking personality of the swan sinks deep into Vajira each time she dances this role.

It is not fair neither polite to compare great dancers who have achieved supremacy on each other's individuality and developed perfection but for those who seek to compare one to another, the options are many. For me, I am looking at two characters and not personalities; dancers who have immortalised two best loved characters from East and West in the form of swan princesses.

Swan Lake is perhaps the most popular ballet held in the repertories of all dance companies in the world. Performed around the world every season with leading dancers under the choreography of masters, the dream of every ballerina is to dance the role of Odette (as well as Odile).

Every great ballerina from Russia's Pavlova to England's Margot Fonteyn, has immortalised it. However, to most people Swan Lake is ballet because of the strong image of the swan which was later used by Michael Foline for Anna Pavlova in the Dying Swan. This concept has no connection with Swan Lake. I will be underestimating the credibility of Nala Damayanthi if I say that it is an adaptation from the Swan Lake.

Far from it; what is to be noted is the concept of the swan which is common to both ballets. One can look at Nala (Chitrasena) as Prince Siegfried and Damayanthi (Vajira) as Odette, and that's it.

The story of Swan Lake unfurls when Prince Siegfried celebrates his coming of age in the palace. His friends and retainers brings him gifts and he opts to dance with peasant girls. His mother - the queen - also has a surprise gift in the shape of a magnificent jewelled crossbow.

She also tells him that the time for marriage has arrived and she would be arranging a ball and invite many eligible princesses for him to select from. He is not ready for marriage and neither is he is agreement to the suggestion but as his mother insists, he reluctantly agrees. While brooding over his fate, he spies a flight of swans overhead and calls his retainers to chase after them to the forest with him.

Once in the deep forest and beside a lake, Siegfried sees the most beautiful swan he had ever seen. As he raises his bow and arrow to shoot it, he is astonished to come face to face with a beautiful princess. He drops his crossbow and approach her only to find a terribly frightened girl who tells him that she is princess Odette snatched away from her home by the evil magician von Rothbart. He had transformed her to a swan by his power of magic. It is only if someone comes along and profess his true love that the spell could be broken. The prince highly touched by her story and overcome with her beauty, falls in love with her. Their tender love is interrupted by von Rothbart who puts Odette back under his spell. A sad and dejected Siegfried return to the palace.

Siegfried is not happy at the prospect of selecting a bride at the gala ball his mother had arranged because he has only Odette in his mind. The queen mother is annoyed while the princesses are disappointed at his behaviour. As guests start to depart, there is fanfare of trumpets heralding the arrival of an unexpected guest. It is von Rothbart disguised as a merchant accompanied by his beautiful daughter Odile who cleverly pretends to be Odette. Immediately Siegfried runs to her and asks her to dance with him while professing his eternal love for her not knowing that it is Odile in disguise as Odette.

Siegfried announces that it is Odette he wishes to marry. Siegfried fails to observe Odette fluttering helplessly outside the tall windows. Once again von Rothbart makes Siegfried swear his eternal love to her and puts her completely under his spell.

Maya Plisetskaya has wonderful supple back and long elegant arms more than any ballarina who danced the Swan Princess and suggest the bird character to its supreme. Supporting her is Nicola Fedeychev as Prince Siegfried.

The vow is broken and by the time Siegfried realise, von Rothbart and Odile have left with their mission complete. Siegfried rushes headlong to the forest only to find Odette at the lakeside surrounded by other swans. Siegfried begs forgiveness from her and says he was tricked into believing that Odile was Odette but she knows it is too late and she must die because the power remains in Rothbart. In desperation Siegfried and Odette throw themselves in the lake and in the process destroy the powers of Rothbart by the power of their love. They are united forever in eternity.

Choreographed by all the leading choreographers down the centuries. Swan Lake remains the most sought after ballet of them all. Danced by all the leading dancers its immortal story touch the hearts of all who see it. No other ballet has been performed or reviewed so many times and still remains a class by itself.

Nala Damayanthi with its immortal story is held in the repertory of the Chitrasena Dance Company and is performed during major seasons. All who saw Nala Damayanthi remembers Vajira as the Swan Princess, an allure she carries through life. Vajira being our prima ballerina set the standard for traditional and classical dance forms.

Together with Chitrasena, these icons shaped the destiny of the highest of Kandyan and low country dance in our land. She infused the power of respendence into dance and flung open the doors to many generations who have passed from beneath her wings. As much as I want to associate the great Pavlova with Odette, it is Vajira I want to remember as Damayanthi.

In his first appearance since starting his Masters Degree in Music at Santiniketan, India, sitarist Pradeep Ratnayake will hold a Pradeepanjalee concert at the Lionel Wendt Theatre on October 25, at 7 p.m. as part of its fifty year celebrations.

This is the fifth concert in the Pradeepanjalee series he started after coming back from his undergraduate studies from the same university in 1997, with the idea of providing an alternative music scene for music lovers of Sri Lanka. Pradeep is now a lecturer at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and is studying for his Masters Degree on a scholarship given by the Government of India, and this performance will be given during his holidays from his studies in the final year of his programme.

The Pradeepanjalee concerts provide a chance for audiences to hear Indian classical music on the sitar which Pradeep excels in, as well as his compositions which fuse elements of Indian classical music, Western classical music, jazz, rock and Sri Lankan folk melodies. Following the success of these concerts, there have been performances in Geneva and Abu Dhabi as well.

Pradeep Ratnayake's attempt is to broaden the horizons of his instrument, always seeking to break its limits while also giving it a Sri Lankan identity, capable of holding its own in the international world of music. The standing ovations given by the international audiences at Geneva and Abu Dhabi are ample testimony to the sincerity of his efforts. His own country honoured him by giving at state award at the State Music Festival in 2001.

Among his compositions is the Symphonic Poem Indrakeelaya commissioned by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka as part of its Fifty Year celebrations and performed at the ceremonial opening of its New Headquarters Building. Pradeep Ratnayake entered the field of film music direction with renowned film director Dr. Lester James Peries's latest film Wakanda Walawwa shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003 and his second film, Linton Semege's Mage Wam Atha, was chosen for the competitive section of the Locarno Film Festival. For the latter, Ratnayake was nominated for the Best Music Director in the Sarasaviya Film Festival in 2003. His latest composition was for Ravibandu Vidyapati's ballet, Trushna.

Pradeep has performed as soloist in Lalnath de Silva's Sitar Concerto which was performed at the Tata theatre in Bombay with the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka, as part of the joint celebrations of India and Sri Lanka's 50 years of Independence, in 1999.

In Pradeepanjalee V, some of the best musicians in their respective fields will accompany Pradeep.

He will start the programme as usual by performing a classical raga - this time one of spirituality and devotion, Rag Yaman. He will be backed on tabla by Chandralal Amarakoon. Pradeep's first composition, Kuveni will feature the rare combination of the sitar and the cello, played by Dushyanthi Perera, and the haunting tale of the tragic princess expressed in a folk melody will find new and magical expression here.

The other composition is The Flight of the Hawk, based on the Ukusa Vannama and here, the movement of the free soaring bird is captured in melody, when the sitar takes flight backed by the cello and the bass guitar of Alston Joechim. Traditional Sri Lankan percussion instruments like the Kandyan drums and the tammatama, played by Ravibandu Vidyapati and Piyasara Shilpadhipati, will provide the backing for this powerful and electrifying piece.

The first episode of the above Tele Drama was seen by me accidentally. About 8 months ago I was changing the channels of my TV on a Wednesday at about 7.30 p.m. and I found in the Rupavahini channel a lovely picture of an impressive walauwa and a song titled "Kadadasi Oruwa Yaththra Karai".

The song was sung by a lovely enchanting melodious female voice. It was not the normal nasal, shrieking Sinhala female voices that usually sing this type of songs. This beautiful song lasted for about four minutes by which time the names of the cast and the persons who assisted in producing this film were shown on the screen. This was the theme song of this Tele Drama. I was very impressed by the first episode and thereafter I watched almost all the other episodes except one or two.

The story in brief with regard to this tele drama is as follows: A beautiful, vivacious and lovely damsel named Tharani gets herself employed in a firm that exports goods such as curios in the hill country. This firm is owned by a young lad named Anuruddha. As time goes on Anuraddha falls head over heels in love with his subordinate Tharani to the dismay of his widowed mother and only sister who are vehemently against this affair.

Anuruddha proposes marriage to Tharani and they in fact visit a large house for sale with the intention of purchasing it so that they could live there after marriage. Further, Anuruddha pays an advance to purchase it. During this visit Tharani has a feeling that she had been to this house before.

Subsequently Anuruddha receives information that Tharani is an orphan who has been brought up by her foster parents. As Tharani had not disclosed this important fact to him he decides to break up this intended marriage and he leaves to Singapore on a Holiday.

When Tharani gets to know that Anuruddha had no intention of marrying her because she was an orphan, she embarks on a long determined mission to find out her actual parents. In the pursuance of this object she is greatly assisted by her widowed foster mother who was a former Ayurvedic doctor and by a Sub Inspector of Police who was a batchmate of hers at the University. To trace her roots she visits a Roman Catholic Orphanage several times where she was brought up for sometime before her foster parents took charge of her.

Further, with this object in view she also visits several places such as the beautiful village of Kaikawala, the far away Mahaweli Scheme, Kadugannawa, Nawalapitiya and some other places of scenic beauty. In the end with the assistance of the Sub Inspector of Police she traces the man who had handed over her to the orphanage and from the orphanage to her foster parents. On questioning this man it was revealed that Tharani was the only child of a prominent Magistrate and his wife. Her parents owned large number of properties including the house that Anuruddha and she went to purchase before marriage.

Further it is revealed that her parents died in an air crash whilst they were travelling to Canada leaving Tharani at home in Sri Lanka. Some relations who got to know that the parents had died had given Tharani to this man to be killed in order to enjoy the benefits of her parents' properties. However this man had a great deal of sympathy to this beautiful child and he had handed over her to the orphanage and thereafter from there to her foster parents.

This information showed that she was the rightful heir of a great deal of property. Subsequently she institutes legal action and obtains the inheritance that is due to her.

During the period that she goes in search of information regarding her parents there were several disappointments that she had to face but she relentless pursues her object with great determination and at last achieves it.

With regard to Anuruddha his mother and sister proposes a marriage to him with a buxom lass with a lovely pretty face who is a teacher. This lass unfortunately meets Tharani on one occasion at the orphanage referred to earlier and Tharani informs her what Anuruddha had done to her. This information adversely affects the thinking of this lass and she gives up Anuruddha although her widowed mother is in favour of her marrying him. Ultimately Anuruddha finds that fault with his mother and sister for objecting to his marriage with Tharani because subsequently it is found that Tharani was from a very good Kandyan family with a great deal of inheritance.

The producer of this teledrama B. Lylie Fernando had done an excellent job in producing a drama which keeps the spectators interest spell bound. If you see one episode you always wish to see the next. Further the scenic beauty of luscious tea plantations and beautiful hills of the upcountry are beautifully filmed and shown in a picturesque manner in this Tele Drama.

All the actors in this film even those who perform the minor roles act their parts extremely well. I also wish to mention the three widows who feature in this film depicts, the care they have for their offspring in selecting a partner although their sense of values at certain times could be questioned.

Finally the "Prima Dona" of this tele drama is Tharani who I was informed by my daughter was played by Sangeetha Weeraratne an old girl of Methodist College. Her acting talents take this teledrama to very high levels. The Methodist College Motto is "We scatter light". I hope this actress in the days to come will "scatter more light" in the Sinhala tele dramas and Sinhala films.