Dancing maestro turns 92
E Weerapperuma
Dancing Maestro Wasantha Kumara Dep, popularly known as Wasantha
Kumara, the veteran dancer who enthralled the audience and ennobled Sri
Lanka through his dancing, turned 92 last Friday. He now lives away from
the public eye and glittering lights and the camera in retirement at No
280/90, Garden City, Galle Road, Katubedde, Moratuwa.
Born on August 5th, 1919, as Wewage Alfred Dep to his parents W.
Charles Dep and Heendeni Pathiraja, the sister of Albert Simon
Pathiraja, living at the time in Cinnamon Garden. Simon Pathiraja played
the role of the King Pandukabhaya in the play staged on the opening day
of the Tower Hall, Maradana.
Wasantha Kumara, instrumental in forming an indigenous dance based on
tala (rhythm), is one of the dancers the country could be proud of.
Through his dancing performances both here and overseas Kumara had
brought honour, glory and fame to his motherland.
A former Chief Education Officer at the Aesthetic Institute, Wasantha
Kumara came on stage in 1954, with Manohara, the first opera based on
the script of Sri Chandrarathna Manawasinghe.
He shot to fame dancing on stage with Shelton Premaratne’s Vishwa
Vimukthi, a ballet( 1955) depicting the nature of the world, was
acclaimed as an important landmark in the Sinhala dance scene.
Educated at the Wesleyan Missionary School first at Maradana and then
attended the St Lawrence Night English School conducted by J D P Perera
as its principal. He completed his London Matriculation sitting from the
Vidyodaya Pirivena, Maligakanda.
Enkindled with the efforts and struggles of the national leaders to
free the country from the clutches of foreign dominion, he chose music
and dancing as his forte to ignite the national feeling among the
polity. The colleagues whom he moved with included Morris Dias and
Silpadhipathi Pani. Alfred, Morris and Pani won the hearts of the public
as Wasantha Kumara, Chitrasena and Pani Bharatha respectively.
The late Ven Yakkaduwe Sri Pragnarama Thera was responsible in giving
them new names in 1935, recognising their inborn talents for music and
dance.
He came under the influence of T A I Saldin of Uthuwankanda, who made
the Indian dance form popular among the schools in Colombo and Miriam
Peiris, wife of Dr Paul Peiris. When Rabindranath Tagore visited Sri
Lanka in 1932, J D A Perera’s wife Chandraleka made a dancing
performance to treat the visiting dignitary and that presentation
fascinated Wasantha Kumara.
She had mastered her knowledge in the upcountry dancing under the
guidance of Algama Kiriganitha Gurunnase. Wasantha Kumara joined her
dancing school and perfected his upcountry dancing knowledge studying
under her feet.
He showed keen interest in treading the steps of those who had gone
before him with a name for their dedication to promote National Cultural
Revival or Renaissance including the areas such as art, drama and music.
Wasantha Kumara was perhaps the first Sri Lankan to have won a
foreign scholarship in 1943 to pursue studies and do research at Vishwa
Bharatha, Kathakali dance at Shanthi Nikethan and Bhathkande, Lucknow in
India. He was accompanied by several other students including Pani
Bharatha and W B Makuloluwa. He studied Kathakali dance under the feet
of Sri Gopinath in Kerala and Bharatha Natyam from Vudvam Meenakshim
Sundarapillai. In 1950 he went to Mulgampola, Kandy, to settle down and
also to have his own school of dancing - Chandraleka Kalayathanaya.
His exposure to both Western and Eastern music and dance and his
experience in blending dance forms from the eastern models with our
traditional, had helped him immensely in his new creations such as P V
Nandasiri’s Hiroshima (1956), and D R Peiris’ Kumburu Panatha (1957)
which shot him to fame.
After several years away from the public eye he was back in stage in
1970 Kinduriya (Scripted by Bandula Jayawardene), Ramayanaya (1978)
Nurthi and Sigiri Kashyapa, an opera in 1979.
He was also the choreographer in the Maname and Sinhabahu by Prof
Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Kuveni by Henry Jayasena, Bera Handa, Swarna
Hansa and Bhihivuni Bosathano by Bandula Jayawardene and Nilkatrol by
Sugathapala de Silva.
Wasantha Kumara, one of the most experienced dancers and dancing
instructors in the country had also authored several books including
Kuweni of Lankapura, Symphony of the Temple the Drums and From Cult
Towards A Naked Burial. We wish him well, good health and long life.
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