Our dance has a unique rhythm - Ravibandu Vidyapathi
Aravinda HETTIARACHCHI
Ravibandu Vidyapathi is a classical and percussion dance artiste
with international recognition. Vidyapathi shares his ideals of Sri
Lankan dancing with Artscope.
* Classical arts face a drastic situation today without sufficient
funds. How do you face the challenge as a classical dance artiste?
The complexity of the issue itself is a challenge. Chitrasena and
Panibharatha faced the same problem but in a basic way. They held the
responsibility on building up a refined and dignified art, which was
considered a discreditable practice during the colonial period. They
both fought for the dignity of dance, you can say.
Dance is a technique. It becomes an art on stage. Chitrasena infused
theatrical elements into the traditional dance. He established dance as
a classical theatre art. We call this ‘Dance Theatre’ or ‘Modern
Theatre’.
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Ravibandu Vidyapathi |
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Today’s challenge is far greater. Dance deteriorates losing its
classical base. The modern dancer must remake it as a solid classical
art. This deterioration is a result of the post-’77 open economy. It
cleared way to substandard stuff.
We have to make dance solid and classical within this environment.
Dance has to be placed above the entertainer. And yet for the consumer
society, dance is simply entertainment. The intellectual dialogue
between artist and audience is far behind.
No post-Independence government has taken cultural arts seriously,
compared with other countries. India is both culturally and
geographically vaster, and it’s a country with many traditions such as
painting, sculpture, dance, music and drama. They too went through the
same period of colonialism, like us.
But their leaders have been more patriotic. It’s good that Cultural
Affairs Minister Pavithra Vanniarachchi seems enthusiastic to change
these environs. She listens carefully and admits that budget allocated
to culture is very meager. This admission gives us hopes in a way.
* You said Sri Lanka doesn’t have
sufficient funds for culture. Don’t you have better prospects if you
leave here for a better country with better standards of culture?
I had opportunities to leave this country and settle in another. But
I couldn’t get myself to do that.
I have my duties here. I am naturally drawn back to my roots that lie
here. There may be others who could transplant themselves in a foreign
location. I find it difficult, though. Rohan de Sarem transplanted
himself in Europe and became one of the best ten cello players in the
world.
Internationally reputed pianist Rohan de Silva has reached the
similar world standard as well. Their forte is western classical music.
It’s something that flourishes in the Europe more than in Sri Lanka.
They have better opportunities to reach high artistic levels.
As for me, I have always been satisfied with any kind of difficult
situation in my country. I had that strength thanks to my father. And
thanks to Chitrasena and Vajira. So I have never been unhappy.
But at the same time, if this country does not provide the proper
facility for serious arts, and if anyone lacks a proper background in
arts, I suppose they have the right to go settle in a foreign country.
* We have three focal streams of
arts: traditional arts, modern Euro arts and pre-colonial remains of our
own folk arts. Can we build a standard classical art with this
combination in the backdrop?
We have been able to form a classical art form in dance. Chitrasena
and Panibharatha took the traditional dance forms from rituals and
recreated the ‘Dance Theater’. Their task was bigger and difficult. They
had to give this art form a whole new look that could even appeal the
international audience.
We have seen their work. Our start is much easier, because we have a
good pre-model.
Serious dance kept on progressing till the ’70s. Even the governments
didn’t have to get involved, because of the healthy audience. But things
changed with the uprising of 1971 that disturbed the system culturally,
politically and economically.
Today we face the worse consequences. Dance has become cheap with
less artistic achievements. Mere copies of Indian film dance or the
substandard western hotel dance confuse the young practitioners as well
as the local audience. They have no proper understanding of serious
dance, or they are not aware of a thing called serious dancing.
Yet a small revival of serious dance took place after the National
Dance Panel and Dance Council were re-established in 1994 under the
Cultural Ministry. The University of Visual and Performing Arts
initiated dance as a serious and progressive subject. That created
avenues to develop dance as a theatre art.
* Is it India that directs us in the
correct path? Or do we have our own way?
Yes. India is the best place we can look up to. We are culturally so
linked to each other. Our dance forms and arts have come from India. It
is natural because India has a greater tradition that influenced many
parts of the world. Our world has four main cultural sources: western,
far eastern, African and Indu civilization.
Even so we have the methods of our own in arts. We have different
components of art forms according to our division of provinces. The
south Indian migrants settled down in the northern parts of the island,
so their culture is close to South India.
Yet in the southern part of the island, we have a unique culture of
our own upon the roots and element we got from India.
Though you may find similarities, this is not found in India. You may
find the same shape of Kandyan Gataberaya in Kerala as Shudda Maddalam.
Yet the Gataberaya sound is unique. You cannot locate that sound in any
part of India. You may find similarities between Kandyan and Indian
dance forms such as Katakali, Odisi or Chau.
Yet Kandyan dance is ours and it is unique. We have our own highly
codified methodology to transmit the art of dance to the younger
generation. We are not artistically or culturally inferior to any other
nation. |
