Sri Lankan Traditional Dance Blog

Dances in low country are highly ritualistic. This form of  dance  is performed to appease evil spirits which cause sickness and is thus called ‘Devil Dance’. The dancers wear  masks  depicting many characters varied in forms of bird, demons, reptiles, etc. There are 18 main dances related to pahatharata style known as the Daha Ata Sanniya held to exorcise 18 types of diseases from the human body. The Low country dances of the southern plains mostly spread in coastal areas such as Galle,  Matara , Hambanthota etc . It has two contents of Devil  dance  and Deity Dance. Dances in low country are highly ritualistic. This form of  dance  is performed to appease evil spirits which causes sickness and is thus called ‘Devil Dance’. Dances in low country are highly ritualistic. This form of  dance  is performed to appease evil spirits which cause sickness and is thus called ‘Devil Dance’. The dancers wear  masks  depicting ma...

  Much like the pahatharata natum (low country dances) of the coastal region and the udarata natum (up country or Kandyan dances) of the hill country, the Sabaragamuwa  dance  tradition is thus named because it originated in the Sabaragamuwa Province. The Sabaragamuwa dances, however, don’t get as much recognition as the up country or low country dances. According to Yohan Punchinilame, a lecturer of the Department of Sabaragamuwa  dance  at the University of Visual and Performing Arts in  Colombo , there are four territorial divisions in terms of Sabaragamuwa dance; namely that of the  Ratnapura , Kalawana, Balangoda, and  Badulla  divisions. Each area has a slightly different version of the ritualistic dances that make up the Sabaragamuwa tradition of dance, but  Ratnapura  has been historically celebrated as the heart of Sabaragamuwa  dance  in Sri Lanka. “While the district of  Kegalle  now falls un...

The Kandyan Dance is traditionally performed to drum beating only.The most common drum is the  Geta Beraya , which is only used in Kandyan Dance. To assist the dancer to keep rhythm a small pair of cymbals knows as the  Thalampota  is also used. Geta Beraya This hill country drum is called the Geta Beraya (a drum with a knot) according to its shape. This is the main drum used to accompany dance sequences in all Kandyan rituals. The two faces of the drum are described as ‘left’ and ‘right’. The right side is covered with the hide of a monkey or monitor lizard and the left side is covered with cattle hide, which is used to provide a finer sound. Since the drum is usually played at open air venues, the sound carries quite a distance. This drum is turned out of wood from Ehela, Jak, Kohomba and Milla trees. Various parts of the drum have separate names and is played by tying around the waist.   Thalampota Small though they are, the thalampata play a crucial role in Sri ...

Types of Traditional Dance There are three main styles of Sri Lankan classical dance, The Kandyan dances of the Hill Country, known as  Uda Rata Natum , the low country dances of the southern part of Sri lanka, known as  Pahatha Rata Natum  and Sabaragamuwa dances , or Sabaragamuwa  Natum . The three classical dance practices vary in their styles of movements and motions, in the outfits worn by the performers, and in the nature of the drums used to provide rhythmic sound to the dance. The drum used in Kandyan dancing is known as the  Geta Bera , the drum in low country dancing as the “ Yak Bera “ , and drum in Sabaragamu dancing the D aul beraya . The main  feature that differentiates Ruhunu dance from Kandyan and Sabaragamu dancing, is that only Ruhunu dancers wear masks and some Ruhunu dance styles look more bold than other two graceful dance styles, to a person seeing it for the first time .

 P.G.E.K.SATHSARANI EU/IS/2019/PHY/74 PS2824