The Dancers’ Guild of Sri Lanka’s performance at the LPL virtual opening ceremony
By Naveed Rozais
If anything can prove that Covid-19 can never permanently dampen our spirit it would be the fact that the 2020 Lanka Premier League (LPL) opened last week despite being postponed from its initially planned dates in August.
The 2020 LPL Opening Ceremony was held virtually and was produced by Showtown Entertainment. A highlight of the opening ceremony was the inspired performances put on by Chandana Wickramasinghe and the Dancers’ Guild of Sri Lanka. The nature of this virtual dance performance showed that despite the pandemic and its crippling effect on artists, there is still potential for performance to shine even in this new normal, in which we temporarily find ourselves.
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Behind the Scenes[/caption]
The Dancers’ Guild of Sri Lanka is one of our most renowned dance troupes, formally founded by Managing Director and Dance Choreographer Chandana Wickramasinghe in 1999. Wickramasinghe’s own expertise in dance began at the age of six under the tutelage of Vajira Chitrasena. He was then trained and given Ves by Kulasiri Budawatta and was Budawatta’s first student, before joining the Sama Ballet troupe. Wickramasinghe also trained at the Visva-Bharati Santiniketan University before formally founding the Dancers’ Guild.
The Dancers’ Guild specialises in traditional, fusion, folk, and oriental ballet for both Sri Lankan and foreign audiences and has performed in over 76 countries. In 2013, the group performed in Kazakhstan and the Belarus Bolshoi Theatre to commemorate the visit of then Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The troupe is also called to represent Sri Lanka at overseas promotion campaigns co-ordinated by the Sri Lankan embassies. The troupe was also invited by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani to perform at his daughter Isha's wedding in 2018.
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Chandana Wickramasinghe[/caption]
Wickramasinghe shared that the Dancers’ Guild performance at the 2020 LPL Opening Ceremony was carefully curated to showcase the best of Sri Lankan dance, combining the Kandyan dance style, low-country dance style, with elements of fusion dance. “All that I learned from my gurus came to my mind when I created this. The soundtrack for the performance was created by one of the young team from Showtown Entertainment, who created a dynamic track to capture the power and energy of Sri Lankan dance.”
Speaking on the LPL Opening Ceremony itself, Wickramasinghe commended Showtown Entertainment for the outstanding job done in conceptualising, developing, and producing the ceremony. Wickramasinghe added that this ceremony was doubly important at a time we need to “show our culture and who we are”. Wickramasinghe further shared: “This series is watched by both Sri Lankans and foreigners and is the best time to show that we are a cultured and peaceful country. It’s time to show our talent and promote our culture. It’s also good for our tourism industry. We need to really build our tourism industry next year and it is a good message to bring people here through dance and cricket.”
Working on a performance of this nature during a pandemic came with its problems, Wickramasinghe shared, explaining that the performance has to be filmed in a very specific setting so that it could be edited into the final event, and that this required a great deal of consideration in terms of colour and the kind of ornamentation dancers could wear. Wickramasinghe explained that the performance was shot against a blue setting so that it could easily be edited, which meant that absolutely nothing blue could be used in the costumes for the production.
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The Virtual Event[/caption]
The shooting of the performance went on for over 36 hours, Wickramasinghe noted, with dancers needing different cameras and angles specifically for maximum impact. Rehearsals were limited to a few weeks and carried out in strict accordance with health and safety regulations.
On working mid-pandemic, Wickramasinghe shared that it was a struggle, but could have been much worse. “We must really thank His Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the current Government because they arranged a special loan for artists. All my dancers received this money, and without it, many artists, especially the younger artists, would have been lost.”
Wickramasinghe shared that there was almost no work for the troupe during the pandemic, there were no private events or tours, and even in the case of weddings, there were numerous restrictions on the kinds of dances that could take place. In a normal world, now would be the time Wickramasinghe would be preparing for Independence Day celebrations when he sends members of his troupe to perform at Sri Lankan diplomatic missions across the world.
Wickramasinghe is currently working on an upcoming production for 2021, a historical ballet in collaboration with Indian and Sri Lankan artists and dancers. The production is supported by the Indo-Sri Lanka Foundation in collaboration with the High Commission of India, and is set to feature many legendary Sri Lankan artists and dancers.