Swaying to the contrast of waters
Amalshan Gunerathne
The water as a refreshing energizer plays a vital role in fueling our
life with vibrant energy. At the same time, the water has the capacity
to shift its mode and play the role of the ferocious destroyer.
Capturing these varied emotions of water, the local dance troupe
‘nATANDA’ hopes to do a unique and exuberant dance project early next
year. Moving swiftly to these emotions, they hope to create a sense of
awareness regarding the preservation of priceless element that water is.
Their latest project, ‘Ripples One’ dance campaign will unravel to the
public from March 22nd 2012 at Open Air Theater, Vihara Maha Devi Park.
The experience promises to be a thought provoking one filled with
great aesthetic value. Expressing his thoughts on their latest campaign,
the founder of nATANDA organization, the dance choreographer Kapila
Palihawadana noted, “The water is associated with contrasting emotions.
The feelings of pleasure, love, and comfort are all associated with
water. People simply can’t live without it. When you don’t have water,
the earth is crying, the earth is always looking for water. But there is
a whole disruptive aspect to it as well. As we have experienced through
natural disasters like tsunami, the water also carries a sense of
disruptiveness, the feeling of violence is always there. The dance has
to be choreographed to capture these contrasting emotions.”
While doing dance acts with great aesthetic value, the campaign will
focus mainly on how we should go about preserving the invaluable life
force that water is. Passionately expressing his thoughts on the urgent
need to preserve the life force, Kapila noted, “Without water you can’t
do anything, people don’t realize the value of it. They don’t know how
to use it and they are destroying it. Our campaign will be a wakeup call
to understand the value of conservation of water. We have two days
awareness program depicting the idea of water. We invite young people,
we do enjoyable dance acts and themes, and we are planning to bring
hearing impaired ones. When you talk about water, there are no barriers,
you cannot marginalize it.”
‘nATANDA’ is an organization where they harness the talents of young
dancers by providing them with the freedom to express themselves
creatively. Every year, they do dance productions to harness young
talent.
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“I love to see people changing through dancing; it gives
them a platform to boost their confidence,” |
The organization was started in 2002 and within a relatively short
span of time; they have been able to win many hearts through their
unique dance acts. Their fame spreads across boundaries as well.
Natanda’s unique dance act ‘Ravens’ which reexamines the perceptions of
crows has been nominated for the best choreography plans for Asian Dance
production. “We are humbly proud about our achievements; our act was
selected out of many entries. We have been asked to perform couple of
our dance acts at the next stage of the competition and we look forward
to bring some silverware to the country,” Kapila said.
nATANDA also focus on the potential of dance as a personal
development tool. Kapila & Co believe that dance can transform people
and change their personalities. “I love to see people changing through
dancing; it gives them a platform to boost their confidence,” Kapila
says.
Though his dance acts are very unique and original in nature, he
still employs traditional elements in his choreographs. Kapila strongly
feels that traditional art and dance is a great way to promote Sri Lanka
to the world. “When you look at my dancing you may not see any
traditional elements. I do not use traditional steps, but I do use
unique elements in my dancing. In-fact many have even criticized saying
that my style is not suitable for our culture. They say I do unnecessary
style of dancing which I am not doing. I do use traditional elements,
but my vision is not doing exactly that, I want to come up with my own
creation. But I respect and love all forms of traditional dancing so
much,” he expressed.
He believes that steps have to be taken to preserve the traditional
dance culture. Speaking further on the dilemmas that are faced with the
traditional dancing, he commented, “We have a very rich dance culture.
It is not something that you can find anywhere else in the world. It is
unique. It is not Japanese, it is not American, it is Sri Lankan. It
carries the Sri Lankan stamp with it. Our dance culture is one of the
richest in the world; unfortunately we don’t know how to protect. It is
been destroyed mainly because of economic issues.” |
