Chandana's dancers dazzle at ITB

Hiran H. Senewiratne in Berlin

Chandana Wickramasinghe's dancing troupe has attracted thousands of visitors who came to witness the elegantly adorned Sri Lanka stall at ITB. Many tourists who visited the stall marvelled at their performance depicting various dancing items based on Kandyan, Katakali and Manipuri dances.

In keeping with the Sri Lankan culture and tradition their dancing was based on different themes like nature, sea, history, culture and even world history as well, Choreographer Chandana Wickramasinghe said.

Where the nature is concerned their peacock, cobra, lotus, sea horse dances were very popular among everybody and their Mayura Sandesha ballet dance one of the beautiful dances, which attracted a large number of foreigners.

Wickramisingha said that he likes to create new things in keeping with the culture and the tradition of Sri Lanka. We go for new innovations while preserving our culture, Wickramasinghe said.

At present Wickramasinghe is conducting his own dancing academy which has more than 650 students. He trains professional dancers and his students are between 17 to 28 years old.

Some Captivating sequences Pictures by Saliya Rupasinghe