Upali and Lalitha Wickramasinghe, parents of five-year-old Chandana, were quite amazed to see their little son tapping and patting his little feet; swaying his teeny-weeny limbs; twirling, twisting and twitching his small, supple body to a rhythmic beat. This was not a common spectacle or practice in their ancestry.
Identifying his prowess, the Wickramasinghe’s entered their little boy to a Kandyan dancing school. It was the threshold for dancing legend Chandana Wickramasinghe who has been an ornament to Sri Lankan traditional dancing, combining it with Bharatha, Kathakali, Manipuri, Far-Easten and other global dancing modes.
“What I observe I absorb. I study and assimilate every time I encounter a dancer who is humble enough to appreciate another dancer’s work of art, no matter if he’s a genius or an apprentice. I never hesitate to compliment and give an ovation to another’s creative work,” Chandana said
Chandana learnt his first steps in dancing at the Chitrasena School of Dance. His debut at professional level was however at the Kulasiri Budawatta Dancing Academy, when he became the first student of Guru Budawatta to obtain Ves, the highest stage in the Kandyan dancing tradition in 1986, when he was only 16.
Chandana is a product of Mahanama Vidyalaya, Colombo 3. His father, an Administrative Officer at the Ceylon Electricity Board and his stenographer mother who worked at the Railway Department had sky high dreams for their sons, Chandana and Hasitha. They were quite amused by their elder son’s talent, which he had gained as a Sansaaric skill. They were not that pleased of Chandana’s allure towards dancing.
Hence, after getting through his Ordinary Levels with five Distinctions and three Credits, Chandana was pushed to do Bio Science for his Advanced Level. His parents didn’t mind him continuing dancing as a pastime but not as a profession as all his relatives were highly placed in conventional vocations. None were in the Performing Arts Stream. His brother Hasitha was into Maths and Engineering. “My brother works as an MCR Engineer for the Fox-tell TV Channel in Sydney, Australia,” he said. However, Chandana’s Advanced Level results of two credits and two ordinary passes proved that Science was not going to be his future.
Sama Ballet Troupe
Chandana joined the Sama Ballet Troupe of the Sama Foundation founded by Naveen Gunaratne and was performing under Dance Directors – Prof. Mudiyanse Dissanayake and Ravibandu Vidyapathy. With this troupe he was exposed to foreign stages and mingled with many foreign dancers performing in 17 countries.
He was with the Sama Troupe for eight years. In 1993, at the age of 28, a significant turning point occurred in his life. His maternal uncle, the late Prof. Hema Wijewardane (former Dean of the Management Faculty of the University of Jayewardenapura), suggested that Chandana should acquire a professional qualification in dancing. That was how the gates of the University of Vishwa Bharthi-Shanthi Nikethan in North Bengal, India opened to him. In the Ashram founded by renowned guru Ravindranath Thagore, Chandana was blessed to master Kathakali, Manipuri and other traditional dances of Bharatha Desh.
He returned to Sri Lanka in 1997 as a universal dancer, the first of the kind in the country.
Not long after, the Chandana Wickramasinghe Dancers’ Guild was established with four students, first at his home’s garage at C.P. de Silva Mawatha, Ratmalana which was elevated to a three-storey building later, and then expanded to five more branches at Matara, Kandy, Nittambuwa, Gampaha and Kadawatha, teaching thousands of children traditional Kandyan dancing, other classical dance forms and traditional drumming.
“We have extended our dancing guild to an Entertainment Academy with which we perform successfully on commercial stages for a variety of clientele. We have completed four mega ballet productions - Mayura Sandeshaya (Peacock Dance), Story of Sitha, Kanya (Virgin) and Salamba (Anklet). To perform these productions our troupe has travelled abroard profusely. We work with 40 foreign dancing professionals in 76 countries around the globe,” he explained.
The debonair Chandana has conquered the Sri Lankan cinema as well. Twenty-two films including the box-office breaking – Kusa Pabawithi, Pattini, Yashodara, Ali Katawa and Aba were choreographed by him. In addition, he has been on the panel of judges for City Dance and Little Star, the dancing talent shows on TV Derana, helping to lay a courageous foundation for young dancing talents in the country, for the past 10 years.
Family
Chandana is blessed with a happy family. Dilhani, his charming better-half, a former Sub-Editor in the Dinamina Sinhala daily has been the pillar and the shadow behind his success. Their 20-year-old beautiful daughter, Devangi though following in her father’s footsteps has selected IT as her main focus. She is a third-year student studying Cyber Security at the Western Sydney University, Australia. Their twin sons - Thanuga and Manuga are still in Grade six, and are excellent in sports and academic achievements.
“My children are products of Lyceum International School, Panadura. I have given them the freedom to excel in whatever line they prefer, while dancing may be a pastime. It is too early to predict whether they would take over my dancing academy. If not, I would hand it over to one of my outstanding students,” he said.
“ I salute Lyceum and its curriculum which encourages children to gain global knowledge while providing them a Sri Lankan identity with cultural and religious backgrounds, letting them lead a happy childhood. I hope the present Government would take necessary steps to amend the hopeless Government school syllabus to a child friendly standard,” he said.
“To learn dancing, one should have talent and rhythm. One should have commitment, which our Sri Lankan children lack.
Most of our children and youth are very lazy, malingering and living in their own negative and malevolent world. This may be due to the dull, pessimistic, tedious and heavy curriculum they have to follow from pre-grade to Advanced Levels. Tuition intensifies this burden. The mobile phone is a curse given to them by their parents. Lack of parent-child communication, with no strict discipline (by parents and teachers) causes damage to the present generation. It’s a heart-aching situation that needs a speedy solution,” he said.
“I’m of course very strict with my students and troupe. Obedience, commitment, discipline, unity and methodical practice are the attributes I expect from my disciples apart from their talent,” he said.
While speaking to me, he was monitoring the CCTV screen beside his office desk, how his staff was conducting classes, and the behaviour of each and every student at his dance guild.
“Dancing is a performing art, a combination of motions and emotions. Especially when the dramatic sense is added to the dance, the male and female dancers have to perform a close intimate sequence or posture blending it with lust and passion. This sensuality is meant only for dancing purposes. If I sense any personal relationship among members of the troupe, I kindly ask them to leave us, as discipline comes first and last in my troupe. We have to work till late night even when abroad. If I don’t impose such strict discipline, things would end up in disaster as the troupe consists of young people,” he stressed.
For adult enthusiasts
Saturdays 2.00 to 4.00 pm is allocated for adult dance enthusiasts. All adults, despite age, height, weight and waist can enter the class either to refresh their dancing steps learnt a long time back, or just to be a part of a class learning Kadyan and free style dancing for physical fitness and merriment.
Chandana said that dancing has plenty of scope. “It is a field that adheres to many other supportive and associated fields such as drumming, musical instrument manufacturing, costumes, jewellery, makeup, lighting, sounds, orchestra, music, lyrics, choirs, stage preparations, photography, video recording, event management, physical training, tourism promotion, foreign tours and so on. All these open out to numerous job and business opportunities. Our sloppy-slothful youth are either unaware of these opportunitiesor just prefer wasting their youth on roads rallying for Government jobs.
“I recognised my skills and talent, and worked hard to build my life. Our youth should train themselves to think independently and creatively. Till then our country will be on the map as a developing country.
“I hope President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would take steps to amend the school and university curricula to make our future generation a positive minded, active, independent, self-sufficient and productive group,” he said.