By KAMALIKA PIERIS
The Udarata (Kandyan) dance was performed by a distinct caste of dancers and drummers, the ‘berava’ caste. This caste of traditional drummers and dancers ranked very low in the caste structure and traditional dancers were treated in a demeaning manner by society. They were not allowed to enter houses and sit. They were given to drink in cups made of leaves. Caste attitudes towards dancers were strongest in the Udarata.
Ransina of the Amunugama dance family had been asked to teach Kandyan dancing at Hillwood College, Kandy, which is where most high caste Udarata girls went to study. This was probably in the 1950s. When she greeted them with a namaskare, the pupils had responded sullenly, with frowns and hands held firmly by the sides. The Principal had scolded them later. Ransina however, said tactfully, she had come to teach dancing, not to receive greetings from the pupils. There was caste reluctance elsewhere too. Officials asked to accompany dance troupes abroad, tried not to be seen with the group. Some officials treated dancers with disdain, however, others were very kind to the dancers.
The westernized elite in Colombo who admired Udarata dance ignored caste conventions. In the 1920s George E. de Silva allowed dancers to sit on chairs and eat at the table with the family, when they came to teach his daughters. Lionel Wendt made studio photographs of Jayana, Suramba and Gunaya. George Keyt designed Suramba’s dance school building. D.B. Dhanapala had addressed the dancer as ‘Mahatha’ instead of Gurunanse, recalled Pani Bharatha.
In the 1930s Seebert Dias, father of Chitrasena treated the berava dancers with respect in his home. ‘My father gave a seat to the dancers when they came to perform’. Chitrasena’s first dance teacher, Urapola Banda visited him at his home, to teach him dance. He stayed in the house and was treated as a respected visitor and a revered teacher. He was probably one of the first berava allowed to enter the house of a Goigama, and Chitrasena was perhaps the first male Goigama pupil of a berava teacher. Seebert paid Chitrasena’s dance teachers much more than was customary, not only to help them financially but also to build up their social prestige.
But that was in Colombo. Caste had to be respected in the village. When Chitrasena started his apprenticeship under Kiriganitha in Algama, in the late 1930s, he did not stay at Kiri Ganitha's house but at the house of the village school master who belonged to Chitrasena’s caste. Chitrasena had to face criticism from his Goigama community for doing traditional dance at all.
Whenever Udarata dance is discussed, the low position of the traditional dancer is commented on. Tudor Silva, the sociologist, observed that no researcher has been able to explain why the dancer is ranked so low. Chitrasena (b.1921) recalls ‘I went to Delgoda Rate Mahattaya's house in Kegalle when I was young. There was a small hut built by the main house for the dancers to stay. They could not enter the main house. They were the custodians of a rich heritage but had to undergo this humiliation. ‘The nakati caste, in addition to being dancers are astrologers, drummers and conductors for puja in temples. The court astrologer was also a nakati caste man. Therefore how they can be an untouchable caste, Chitrasena asked.
In a strong caste system, a low caste accepts its low position without a murmur. In this case, however, the dancers deeply resented their low ranking and said so to anyone who would listen to them. They had complained bitterly to Ralph Pieris in the 1980s saying that they had not been allowed to use the toilets in the Kandy Club despite the fact that they had hired the lawn for a performance. The Kandy Club had been only too happy to rent the lawn to them and make some money. The dancers had reasons for their resentment. They were professionals, not paupers. Their status as yakdessa was respected in the village. They held nindagam lands, including paddy fields. They possessed valuable skills which society needed, such as medicine and astrology. They had links to specific temples. Some belonged to the Maligawa dance troupe.
The move from caste to class, literally, was initiated by the traditional dancers themselves. Dancers led by Jayana and Sederaman succeeded in getting traditional dance into the school curriculum. With this move, the caste barrier was immediately broken. The school children, regardless of caste started to dance and drum. There would, I think, have been a few mutterings about ‘low caste’, but on the whole the parents accepted the situation.
Dance prospered in schools. Dance teachers taught with dedication . The children were eager, pliable and promising. Several schools gave public concerts of dance. Girls High School, Kandy had ‘Swarna Hansa ballet ‘in 1954. The dance students of Dharmaraja College, Kandy enthusiastically presented a dance concert in Colombo in 2003. I am not an expert on the subject, but I thought the dance and drumming was good, especially for a school. It was certainly quite vigorous. The dance teacher was a pupil of Kulasiri Budawatte. He had his own dance school as well.
The Department of Cultural affairs set up Kalayatanas which taught dance to anybody who wished to learn it. Some of these schools also had ves bendeema ceremonies for select dancers. In 2003, four youths who learnt dancing at Galewela Divisional Cultural centre were conferred their ves tattuva at Bambawa Raja Maha Vihara, Galewela. Private dance schools also helped to break the caste barrier.
In 1952, traditional dance moved up the academic ladder into higher education. Traditional dance became a subject in the Government Technical College, at the initiative of J.D.A.Perera, the Goigama head of the College. Later this institute was absorbed into the university . Traditional dance now came within the aspirations of the ‘respectable’ middle class. The move away from the hereditary dancer was complete. Talented dancers from urban areas took to dancing professionally. They obtained university degrees in dance, taught in government schools, had their own private dance schools and led their own dance companies.
Traditional dance jumped from low caste to high caste in one single leap, with the arrival Chitrasena. Chitrasena and Vajira were from the Goigama caste and pupils of Goigama and other castes attended their classes. But their main impact was on social class not caste. Chitrasena and Vajira belonged to the urban middle class and they made traditional dance acceptable to the middle and upper middle class persons, whose children attended their dance school. In their school traditional dance was taken very seriously and pupils were made to show respect to the traditional dancers who were teaching there.
Chitrasena and Vajira were based in Colombo, the home of the westernized elite of Sri Lanka. This westernized elite were eager to sample national culture, provided it was dished out by their own class. They went happily to see Chitrasena-Vajira performances. There was however, no ‘elite appropriation of Kandyan dance’ as stated by a foreign anthropologist. After generations of sedentary living, the elite could not move their limbs, let alone dance. Instead they sent their children to the Chitrasena School of Dance. I doubt whether the children could dance any better, but the school grew. When the original set of pupils grew up, they sent their own children also to the school. So, thanks to Chitrasena and Vajira, the westernized elite were encouraged to take Udarata dance seriously and to even try and dance it. However, very few pupils in the school went on to the master class from which the Chitrasena troupe was recruited. As late as 2010, Vajira observed ‘people who come from villages are better dancers.’
The Udarata (Kandyan) dance was performed by a distinct caste of dancers and drummers, the ‘berava’ caste. This caste of traditional drummers and dancers ranked very low in the caste structure and traditional dancers were treated in a demeaning manner by society. They were not allowed to enter houses and sit. They were given to drink in cups made of leaves. Caste attitudes towards dancers were strongest in the Udarata.
Ransina of the Amunugama dance family had been asked to teach Kandyan dancing at Hillwood College, Kandy, which is where most high caste Udarata girls went to study. This was probably in the 1950s. When she greeted them with a namaskare, the pupils had responded sullenly, with frowns and hands held firmly by the sides. The Principal had scolded them later. Ransina however, said tactfully, she had come to teach dancing, not to receive greetings from the pupils. There was caste reluctance elsewhere too. Officials asked to accompany dance troupes abroad, tried not to be seen with the group. Some officials treated dancers with disdain, however, others were very kind to the dancers.
The westernized elite in Colombo who admired Udarata dance ignored caste conventions. In the 1920s George E. de Silva allowed dancers to sit on chairs and eat at the table with the family, when they came to teach his daughters. Lionel Wendt made studio photographs of Jayana, Suramba and Gunaya. George Keyt designed Suramba’s dance school building. D.B. Dhanapala had addressed the dancer as ‘Mahatha’ instead of Gurunanse, recalled Pani Bharatha.
In the 1930s Seebert Dias, father of Chitrasena treated the berava dancers with respect in his home. ‘My father gave a seat to the dancers when they came to perform’. Chitrasena’s first dance teacher, Urapola Banda visited him at his home, to teach him dance. He stayed in the house and was treated as a respected visitor and a revered teacher. He was probably one of the first berava allowed to enter the house of a Goigama, and Chitrasena was perhaps the first male Goigama pupil of a berava teacher. Seebert paid Chitrasena’s dance teachers much more than was customary, not only to help them financially but also to build up their social prestige.
But that was in Colombo. Caste had to be respected in the village. When Chitrasena started his apprenticeship under Kiriganitha in Algama, in the late 1930s, he did not stay at Kiri Ganitha's house but at the house of the village school master who belonged to Chitrasena’s caste. Chitrasena had to face criticism from his Goigama community for doing traditional dance at all.
Whenever Udarata dance is discussed, the low position of the traditional dancer is commented on. Tudor Silva, the sociologist, observed that no researcher has been able to explain why the dancer is ranked so low. Chitrasena (b.1921) recalls ‘I went to Delgoda Rate Mahattaya's house in Kegalle when I was young. There was a small hut built by the main house for the dancers to stay. They could not enter the main house. They were the custodians of a rich heritage but had to undergo this humiliation. ‘The nakati caste, in addition to being dancers are astrologers, drummers and conductors for puja in temples. The court astrologer was also a nakati caste man. Therefore how they can be an untouchable caste, Chitrasena asked.
In a strong caste system, a low caste accepts its low position without a murmur. In this case, however, the dancers deeply resented their low ranking and said so to anyone who would listen to them. They had complained bitterly to Ralph Pieris in the 1980s saying that they had not been allowed to use the toilets in the Kandy Club despite the fact that they had hired the lawn for a performance. The Kandy Club had been only too happy to rent the lawn to them and make some money. The dancers had reasons for their resentment. They were professionals, not paupers. Their status as yakdessa was respected in the village. They held nindagam lands, including paddy fields. They possessed valuable skills which society needed, such as medicine and astrology. They had links to specific temples. Some belonged to the Maligawa dance troupe.
The move from caste to class, literally, was initiated by the traditional dancers themselves. Dancers led by Jayana and Sederaman succeeded in getting traditional dance into the school curriculum. With this move, the caste barrier was immediately broken. The school children, regardless of caste started to dance and drum. There would, I think, have been a few mutterings about ‘low caste’, but on the whole the parents accepted the situation.
Dance prospered in schools. Dance teachers taught with dedication . The children were eager, pliable and promising. Several schools gave public concerts of dance. Girls High School, Kandy had ‘Swarna Hansa ballet ‘in 1954. The dance students of Dharmaraja College, Kandy enthusiastically presented a dance concert in Colombo in 2003. I am not an expert on the subject, but I thought the dance and drumming was good, especially for a school. It was certainly quite vigorous. The dance teacher was a pupil of Kulasiri Budawatte. He had his own dance school as well.
The Department of Cultural affairs set up Kalayatanas which taught dance to anybody who wished to learn it. Some of these schools also had ves bendeema ceremonies for select dancers. In 2003, four youths who learnt dancing at Galewela Divisional Cultural centre were conferred their ves tattuva at Bambawa Raja Maha Vihara, Galewela. Private dance schools also helped to break the caste barrier.
In 1952, traditional dance moved up the academic ladder into higher education. Traditional dance became a subject in the Government Technical College, at the initiative of J.D.A.Perera, the Goigama head of the College. Later this institute was absorbed into the university . Traditional dance now came within the aspirations of the ‘respectable’ middle class. The move away from the hereditary dancer was complete. Talented dancers from urban areas took to dancing professionally. They obtained university degrees in dance, taught in government schools, had their own private dance schools and led their own dance companies.
Traditional dance jumped from low caste to high caste in one single leap, with the arrival Chitrasena. Chitrasena and Vajira were from the Goigama caste and pupils of Goigama and other castes attended their classes. But their main impact was on social class not caste. Chitrasena and Vajira belonged to the urban middle class and they made traditional dance acceptable to the middle and upper middle class persons, whose children attended their dance school. In their school traditional dance was taken very seriously and pupils were made to show respect to the traditional dancers who were teaching there.
Chitrasena and Vajira were based in Colombo, the home of the westernized elite of Sri Lanka. This westernized elite were eager to sample national culture, provided it was dished out by their own class. They went happily to see Chitrasena-Vajira performances. There was however, no ‘elite appropriation of Kandyan dance’ as stated by a foreign anthropologist. After generations of sedentary living, the elite could not move their limbs, let alone dance. Instead they sent their children to the Chitrasena School of Dance. I doubt whether the children could dance any better, but the school grew. When the original set of pupils grew up, they sent their own children also to the school. So, thanks to Chitrasena and Vajira, the westernized elite were encouraged to take Udarata dance seriously and to even try and dance it. However, very few pupils in the school went on to the master class from which the Chitrasena troupe was recruited. As late as 2010, Vajira observed ‘people who come from villages are better dancers.’
Source: www.island.lk (03 December 2016)
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