Walking on Fire - Fire Dance | Kandyan Dance | Hewisi Bera Vadanaya
Fire Dance | Steps on Fire | Kandyan Dance | Hewisi Bera Vadanaya Sri Lanka
According to the legend, the origins of the dance lies in a dance ritual known as the Kohomba kankariya (named for the deity Kohomba), which is also known as Kohomba yak kankariya or simply kankariya. Traditional dance masters believe that originally the king of a place referred to as "Malaya Rata", and his two brothers performed the first Kohomba kankariya. Some believe that this "Malaya Rata" was located in India.
According to legend, the three shamans came to the island as a result of a trick of the god Śakra in order to cure the king, Panduwasdev, who was suffering from a mysterious illness. The king was said to be suffering from a recurring dream in which a leopard was directing its tongue towards the king, believed to be as black magic of Kuweni, the first wife of king Vijaya. After the performance of the Kohomba kankariya the illness vanished, and many natives adopted the dance.
It was originally performed by dancers who were identified as a separate caste under the Kandyan feudal system. They were aligned to the Temple of the Tooth and had a significant role to play in the dalada perahera (procession) held each year by the temple.
The dance waned in popularity as the support for the dancers from the Kandyan kings ended during the British period. It has now been revived and adapted for the stage and is Sri Lanka's primary cultural export.
Ves dance, the most popular, originated from an ancient purification ritual, the Kohomba yakuma or Kohomba kankariya. The dance was propitiatory, never secular, and performed only by males. The elaborate ves costume, particularly the headgear, is considered sacred and is believed to belong to the deity Kohomba.
Only toward the end of the 19th century were ves dancers first invited to perform outside the precincts of the Kankariya Temple at the annual Kandy Perahera festival. Today the elaborately costumed ves dancer epitomizes Kandyan dance, which highlights Sri Lanka's culture.
Kandyan dance today
Even though originally only males were allowed train as dancers, there are now several schools that also train women in the Kandyan dance form. However, there is no definite Ves costume for women, and many female dancers have adapted the male costume in different ways.
There are only a few performances of the Kohomba Kankariya now due to many social, economic, and political reasons. The dance in its traditional form is still performed each year at the Dalada Perhahera in Kandy.
Kandy Ves Natuma costume
The Kandyan Dance was adapted for the stage by Chitrasena Dias in the 1970s. In several ballets he choreographed, he has used Kandyan dance movements and features. In some ways, his popularity also helped to reduce the caste barriers surrounding the dance and made it more palatable to an urban, contemporary audience. To date one of the largest school for Kandyan dance is Chitrasena Dance School. Traditional and ritual Kandyan dance is still taught in some village dance schools like Madyama Lanka Nritya Mandalaya, Tittapajjala kalayatanaya in Kandy area. From about the 1920s, artists such as George Keyt, Harold Peiris, Lionel Wendt, and John de Silva also helped to popularise the dance form with their support of contemporary masters such as Amunugama Suramba, Ukkuwa, Gunaya, Punchi Gura, and Sri Jayana.[2] Others include A.H.E Molamure, Dr. Pani Bharatha, and Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha.
Many contemporary dancers in Sri Lanka have borrowed from the Kandyan form for their work.
Kandyan dance takes its name from Kandy, the last royal capital of Sri Lanka, which is situated about 120 kilometers from the modern capital at Colombo. This genre is today considered the classical dance of Sri Lanka. In Sanskrit terminology it is considered pure dance (nrtta); it features a highly developed system of "tala" (rhythm), provided by cymbals called "thalampataa". There are five distinct types; the ves, naiyandi, uddekki, pantheru, and vannams.
The three classical dance forms differ in their styles of body-movements and gestures, in the costumes worn by the performers, and in the shape and size of the drums used to provide rhythmic sound patterns to accompany the dancing.
The drum used in Kandyan dancing is known as the Geta Bera, the drum in Ruhunu (low country) dancing as the "Yak Bera", and drum in Sabaragamu dancing as the "Davula" (the word Bera or Bereya in Sinhale means "Drum") The Geta Bera is beaten with the hands as is also Yak Bera, while the Davula is played with a stick on one side and with one hand on the other side; the Geta Bera has a body which tapers on both sides while the Yak Bera and the Davula both have cylindrical bodies.
Keywords
Steps on Fire, Kandyan Dance, Fire Dance, Hewisi Bera Vadanaya, Sri Lanka, ගිනි පෑගීම
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