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| Saturday, 24 January 2004 |
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Tall order Stilt dancing or the 'Boru Kakul Natuma' which held the position of the tall order amongst our local folk dances has rapidly disappeared, depriving the present younger generation of an art that entertained not only the village folk but most of the city dwellers as well. by Prasad Abu Bakr Within the past 20 years we have witnessed many new methods evolved to keep children entertained. Playgrounds with ultra modern gadgets, eating houses and playpens for kids at shopping malls and the controversial 'video games' developing a child's mind in the direction of combat. Gone are the days when quite unexpectedly a 'Viridu Karaya', the man with the famous Rabana or among others, the 'Boru Kakul Karaya' suddenly appeared at your doorstep to entertain both the young and the old for a few rupees. They were poor village folk with dignity, which is what gave them the courage to perform their art in the city to entertain its numerous dwellers.
Such men with un-clean minds with their illgotten gains and immoral behaviour succeed for a short while to fly high in society but will crumble back to ground as their false stilts will give way at some time or the other, according to a paragraph in a book that consists of many folk tales familiar with our local readers. stilt dancer are un-spoilt village folk proud of their ability to perform an art, carving out an image of distinction for themselves in society. So where are they today? one may ask. This invariably is a question that will be asked by our present day youth each time they read an article of this nature as everything that was unique and simple has disappeared from their view. Today one may have a glimpse of them at an annual perahera and that is it. the current social structure of our country does not permit an art of this nature to find a place in it. A few of these stilt walkers can be found entertaining tourists who are amused at seeing them as they pass by. They stop by to watch and be entertained by these performers. But that's where it stops. Even the tourist resorts never use these dancers in any of their programmes, which conveys the pathetic state of things in that sector. Troupes that perform at peraheras say that they are poorly paid, taking into account that such a ceremonial event happens only once a year and more baffling that not more than 6 to 7 events of this nature take place all year round. Not that there are any more stilt dancers who totally depend on their art, it is now more or less a sideline for many of them who indulge in it just for some extra cash. It is also an eye-opener to the fact how most of the city's big shopping malls and other large commercial establishments lack the imagination in using our folk dancers in their promotional programmes. Instead one finds that they parade a few 'toy' characters totally alien to us in front of the malls during the season. This gives evidence that today's commercial establishments have the least amount of knowledge of our folklore which has succeeded in adding lustre to many of our country's events in the past. They simply refuse to see anything beautiful in the familiar and languish trying to understand what is naive. A tall stilt dancer wears a pair of stilts that are around 9.5 feet in hight and tends to waste at the rate of around 1.5 inches each time it is used for dancing at a perahera. So as a precaution they seal the base of the sole with a piece of tin so that it will keep from wasting and enable the pair of stilts to last for at least 15 to 20 years. It is also an important factor that the stilts are avoided from getting wet in a shower, which they say is quite difficult as it happens very often during a performance in a perahera. The stilts are actually made from sections of the Banyan tree. The top section is left to remain thick and strong while it is made thinner at the bottom but left to remain within a gauge that can maintain its strength to hold the weight of the dancer. Stilt dancing is still taught to young people in some villages specially in the South. This is by no means an attempt to train them towards making a career out of this almost, already dead art. But it is heartening to see that some of our villagers who still have their heart and soul within their traditions and the arts they dabbled in. Probably it is almost a dose of romance to see that any member of your family members can at least succeed in stealing a few steps of an art that one once excelled in. Stilt dancing or 'Boru Kakul Netuma' is just one of the many arts that has lost their ground in Sri Lanka's modern set up of things. 'Experts' are ignoring the importance of these arts and avoiding their inclusion in many of their projects designed for today's consumption. It may be understood that folklore cannot comfortably fit into every feature of modern day lifestyles but it is sad to realize how they are not even welcome on platforms that can easily accommodate the grace and grandiose that most modern presentations lack. Looking back at the way folk art has been treated in recent times it will not be surprising that all folk art concepts will disappear from our society and we will be at the mercy of traditional dances and folklore of countries that are far behind us. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Most of them who came from all four corners of the country facing an
ever rising cost of living to make Colombo their base. This makes them
poorer than back home. It is stated that men who refuse to realise the
facts of life by planting their feet firmly on the ground prefer to fly
sky-high at least for a short while, ignoring the facts of life, as if
they are 'Boru Kakul Karayas' [stilt dancers].
