The Origin Myth of the Kohomba Kankariya
This is a brief overview of historical events according to Mahavamsa – ancient chronicle from 500BC famously known as the founding myth of Sri Lanka (Kotelawala, 2004).
Vijaya
Prince Vijaya, born to the royal couple Sinhabahu and Sinhavali in India is deported by his father due to his mischievous rendezvous within the kingdom. Banishment from his homeland sends him afloat with seven hundred men in a ship where he eventually lands on the shores of Sri Lanka.
Meeting Kuweini
Vijaya’s men gets captured by an indigenous demoness and queen of Yakka tribe, Kuweini. Upon searching for his men, Vijaya is attracted to Kuweini’s charms and falls in love with her. Two children are born from their union and together they plan to overthrow the Yakka tribe and rule the land. Kuweini helps Vijaya destroy her tribe, killing all Yakka commanders – however, some manage to escape including Kuweini’s uncles.
Curse of Kuweini
Few years later, Vijaya’s ministers demand that he banishes Kuweini in favour of a princess from India. In their view, Kuweini is not from a suitable royal caste and considered to be unfit to be Vijaya’s queen, who must be consecrated as king. To remedy this, Vijaya abandons Kuweini and their children and marries the princess from India. Hurt and enraged by her abandonment, Kuweini curses Vijaya and frightens him by taking the form of a leopard (Walcott, 1978). The curse of Kuweini results in Vijaya suffering from thirty-two major diseases and eventual death as a barren. Upon seeking refuge from her uncles, Kuweini is killed for the role she played by the commanders of her tribe. Kuweini and Vijaya’s kids flee deep into the forest.
Kandyan Dance
After Vijaya’s passing, his brother Panduvas is brought to Sri Lanka as king, but he is also haunted by frightful dreams of Kuweini in her form as a leopard. The healing of Panduvas has several versions all ending with the eventual performance of a Kankariya – ritual taking place. This ritual, famously known as Kohomba Kankariya in Sri Lanka is where dancers and drummers from Kandyan region were first seen performing to an audience. In ritual accounts of the healing of Panduvas, it was clear that bodily illnesses are symptoms of an underling emotional imbalance caused by the fear brought on by the curse of Kuweini (Reed, 2010). Rituals are still being performed in Sri Lanka today in hopes of curing illnesses and demonic possessions. Years later, veteran dancer Chitrasena adapted the dances from the ritual to the performing stage, now known as Kandyan dance.
My Inspiration
My inquiry for MA in Professional Dance, Dance specialisation in Kandyan (at Middlesex University, London) revealed to me that Kandyan practitioners around the world use their practice as a platform for educating their students about Sri Lanka. They consistently aim to give their students the learning they cannot easily receive by living away from their roots. I was inspired by the Vijaya – Kuweini story and so I decided to share this with my students and create a dance act based on Kuweini’s point of view. Focusing on her as a woman, a rightful queen denied of her throne and imagining different stages of her emotions and used this to create a traditional and contemporary Kandyan dance act.
Planning The Act: The Story of Kuweini
By using Kuweini as the main character of my act, I imagined what it must’ve felt like to be a queen of a tribe. Her life living in the forest before she met Vijaya. How simple and perhaps joyous it must have been. Then I thought of her feelings upon meeting Vijaya for the first time and falling in love with him. How hopeful and in love she must’ve felt. And finally, when he betrayed her and abandoned her, with their two children. The sadness, anger and hurt she went through – there is a well known Sri Lankan Kandyan dance called Kuweini-Asne, inspired by the story and reflecting her sorrow.
I decided to use both contemporary and traditional dance movements in the act. My current practice includes dancers from different abilities ranging from beginners, intermediate and advanced. Some are born in the UK with no dance or Kandyan experience, some have migrated from Sri Lanka and have had some Kandyan experience and some trained in Kandyan and have completed Pahim Path Mangalya – Kandyan graduation. I wanted all of them to take part in the act and showcase all capabilities in the act. I chose three main dancers to portray Kuweini and divided the dance act into three sections with the remaining dancers.
- Section 1 – Kuweini in White
- The colour chosen for Kuweini 1 reflects her innocence and purity
- Dancers chosen were beginners to Kandyan dance; where simple and lighter contemporary Kandyan movements were showcased, supported by slow tempo music
- Section 2 – Kuweini in Red
- The colour chosen for Kuweini 2 reflects her being in love
- Dancers chosen were intermediate level to Kandyan; where slightly advanced Kandyan movements will be shown
- The tempo of music to gradually increase from Section 1, supported by minimal use of Kandyan drumming music (as there will be no live music, suitable MP3 music tracks will be chosen)
- Section 3 – Kuweini in Black
- The colour chosen for Kuweini 3 reflects her sadness and sorrow
- Dancers chosen were advanced and experienced in Kandyan dance in order to showcase more complex Kandyan movements
- The tempo of the music to increase, supported by traditional Kandyan drums as well as well-known melodies used in Kuweini-Asne
I designed the dance costumes to reflect a tribal look, using the colour orange for the group dancers instead of a typical Kandyan outfit i.e. no waist band or headress. To further support the concept, hair styles for each dancer were to be styled differently to one another as well (Ref: photo gallery below). Finally, the three main Kuweinis’ are to be identical; costume, hair, jewellery with an exception of their costume colour, first in white, second in red and last in black.
The formations were chosen to reflect each emotion Kuweini went through, i.e. before Kuweini 2 exits and Kuweini 3 enters, her emotions to be in an internal battle and the one in love to be pushed out. I imagined betrayal by a loved one would create an internal dilemma between your head and heart and wanted this to reflect in the act clearly (ref: video 2min 50sec to 3min 15 sec).
Repeated use of a circle in formations in all three sections (as shown above in formation planning), was inspired by Kuweini-Asne as it is typically performed in a circle formation.
The final formation, where all dancers come together is to reflect the ship in which Vijaya arrived in Sri Lanka, and pointing towards all three Kuweinis’ at the front; personifying the beginning of what led to her inevitable death.
Finally, I don’t think I would have challenged myself as a choreographer to create this dance act, if it wasn’t for learning about how other Kandyan practitioners conducted their practices around the world. I was fascinated by how they incorporated Sri Lankan myths and legends into their dance creations, aimed to teach their students pieces of Sri Lankan history and encourage them to be more engaged with Sri Lankan traditional dances outside of Sri Lanka. This was key when conducting a dance practice outside Sri Lanka, keeping our culture, heritage and upbringing intact for future generations.
As a choreographer, I found myself teaching dancers how to reflect their emotions on stage to complement the dance in its different stages. It was tough. I found myself talking to the main dancers about relating to happiness, being in love and being heartbroken to reflect joy, excitement and sadness. This proved useful. After all, there’s nothing more raw and enchanting than watching a dancer unravel her emotions on stage.
I’m glad I choreographed this dance. And I’m glad I chose to portray the final Kuweini in Black. It really allowed me to put all my emotions in one place. If I were to perform this act again, I won’t chose to be the final Kuweini. I don’t think I’d do it any justice like I did last year simply because I no longer feel the same. Maybe Kuweini in Red 😉
You can watch the full dance performance below:
PS: Biggest thank you to my cast, the wonderful group of girls who allowed me to bring a vision in my head on to the stage. Dancers: DiliniP, Tharushi, Sathyangi, Natasha, Pooja, Denushi, Erandee, Nisali, Dilanya, Shahani, Chameesha, Nishika, Moneli, Lehana, Ruqaiyah, Diluni, Anuki, Dinuli, Navindi, Budmi, Amasha, Jessica and Saniya.
Until next time,
Dils
#everydaykandyan
Dilini Seneviratne 