nATANDA: Insights into contemporary dance

Kapila Palihawadana 

Today we feature Kapila Palihawadana, dancer, international choreographer, founder of the dance company nATANDA and curator of the dance festival nATFEST. This article is part of a series in this page to contribute to a public discourse on making art represent that of a ‘proper job’ equivalent to purported careers of prestige such as law, science, medicine and engineering that most parents wish their children to follow. 

In this interview Kapila Palihawadana explains the potential of modern dance as a form of compelling storytelling and shares his views on making dance a cohesive part of the national economy.

By Surya Vishwa 

Q: Can you first explain why you chose the term nATANDA and why you spell it beginning with a simple n and the other letters in capital letters? 

A: Na is the component synonymous with Narthana which is the Sinhala word for dance with similar terminology in Tamil generally pronounced as natanam. The ta segment is meant to derive from the word Tanz meaning dance in German and the part denotes the Russian word for dance which is Tansivath. The letters da signifies dance in English. This representation speaks of the philosophy of the company which focuses on contemporary global dance forms but rooted in Sri Lankan heritage as well. I was a professional Kandyan dancer. I started the company in 2002 as a workshop. I had booked the hall and agreed on the fee to be paid on the day of the workshop but the hall was given to someone who could pay upfront. I had to do the workshop in the outer compound. The first letter of the word nATANDA is a simple letter to signify these simple beginnings.  

Q: How would you describe the key purpose of your work as a dancer?

A: My work is about bringing communities together through dance, especially marginalised communities including women and girls and the differently abled while strongly positioning dance as a serious career for adults. I have always been fascinated about dance as a medium of communication. This I believe is a vast potential of contemporary dance. Being strongly trained in traditional dance my whole life I am very rooted in the local dance forms from which I cull techniques for my productions but my professional choice in totality is contemporary dance. 

Q: Could you define contemporary dance and how it differs from traditional dance?

A: Contemporary dance has the formal techniques of traditional dance forms but unlike traditional dance has the scope to link one tradition with another, by borrowing elements from each. 

This means that contemporary dance facilitates style and scope that is interpretive enabling innovation and improvisation freely fusing techniques from a wide realm of genres including classical ballet, jazz, free-style or traditional dance. 

It can also include poetic/lyrical dance where the theme comes first and all the movements accordingly follow spontaneously to match the theme. Contemporary dance therefore provides dancers ample opportunity to create emotion in the self and audience. There is much freedom for costume creation to reflect the topic of the story theme alongside accompanying music. There is total freedom for different musical styles to be used with or without spoken word poems, songs, or the dance to be to the backdrop of silence. 

Q: You intended the nATANDA dance company to be a global one?

A: Yes. It is based in Battaramulla in Sri Lanka but was meant to discuss global themes – all narratives relating to human beings and towards a better world. My intention was to showcase local rural talent internationally and to promote Sri Lankan tourism through dance. With this objective, the nATANDA International Dance festival was initiated with the idea of Dance for Reconciliation, and launched in 2015, continuing over the years based on diverse themes. Such festivals give employment to many art based entrepreneurs such as costume designers, light designers, printing companies, clothing brands, transport sector, food and beverages sector, and upcoming dancers and choreographers.

Q: What is your educational and family background?

A: My hometown is Homagama and I studied first at the Panagoda Central College and at age 14 was enrolled in the Horana Sri Palee national school. This school has a very conducive atmosphere for students wanting to specialise as artists. It was founded in Sri Lanka inspired by Shanthinikethan and Rabindranath Tagore laid the foundation stone for the institution on 20 May 1934. The foundation I received in this school shaped me for a life in dance. I wish Sri Lanka would start a serious discourse on creating more schools of this nature. Education should promote and not stifle creative thinking. Whether for business or arts one needs creative and practical thinking that goes beyond answering exam papers. 

Q: How did your family take to you selecting dance as your future career?

A: In my family there are my two brothers and two sisters and myself. My mother was a housewife. We lost our father when we were young. I could have taken to academic spheres as I did my higher education at university studying languages and serving as a visiting academic teaching Russian and German due to me obtaining a first class and emerging as the batch top. My mother may have been worried if I would be able to earn a living through dance but she and my family supported the decision.  

Q: So you studied languages at university?

A: Yes. As part of the BA degree I studied Russian, German and Translation methods at the University of Kelaniya. I first chose dance as the sole focus of the BA. However, making use of the possibility of changing subjects within three months, I moved to studying languages. I had studied dance all my life and the traditional forms of dance such as Kandyan, low country and Bharatha Natyam, etc., and I felt I will benefit more if I study languages. My dance teacher in my adult life was Oosha Saravanamuttu from whom I learnt all classical ballet dance forms as well as modern ballet. Later I learnt contemporary dance formally in Germany. Studying languages in university helped me to look at the nuances of language through dance and to see dance as a language. Studying Russian and German enabled me to have a parallel focus on contemporary and classical Russian and German dance. Obtaining a first class in my BA also opened many doors for me in the realm of dance and languages. I do not see a division in these two. For me dance is a language. 

Q: Can you speak of your overseas exposure in dance?

A: Yes. In 2004 the Goethe Institute awarded me a one year training opportunity at the International Theatre Institute in Berlin. I was based in areas such as Heidelberg, Friedberg and Berlin which exposed me to international theatrical productions involving dance and gave me insight on how to start and manage a dance company which could create a niche for itself. In Western countries such as Germany Dance is a major modern industry. I have gained a lot of knowledge from my overseas exposures in general having studied various modern dance techniques under famous teachers in Europe such as Christino Kono, Biasuty and Tomi Passonen. I learned choreography techniques from Irina Pauls & Manuel Quero from Germany and Devid Bolger from Ireland. In 2012 I was the first Lankan contemporary choreographer to be invited to do a production in the USA by a US dance company. 

Q: What are the priorities of your dance company nATANDA?

A: It is a social entrepreneurship non-profitable venture that is able to obtain local and global grants to create productions that speak of issues that need to be spoken about. 

Q: Can you elaborate?

A: Yes. Almost all my dancers at nATANDA are from rural areas. The key service done through the company is the identification and support of rural dance talent. I also highlight gender themes as I am a strong believer in equal rights. My production themes are from real life. I will provide one example. 

There was this girl who was the main character for an international performance that was being planned. She was from Polonnaruwa and was traveling back in the bus in isolated routes after a training when she faced a serious case of sexual assault. She never returned to Colombo. I was traumatised by the whole incident and also having to replace the main performer at short notice but in this calamity came the idea for a production based on the theme ‘touch.’ Here, the storyline through dance looked at all the dynamics of touch – how it can be a wonderful thing and also a terrifying one. During the civil war in Sri Lanka I produced a creation called Raven which although not directly linked to a war theme was inspired in such a backdrop during a visit I undertook to the North of the country. After a strange confrontation with a Raven I got to researching their intelligence and this production was the result. It emerged as one of the top five choreographies out of 17 Asian countries and 65 choreographies in a competition held in South Korea. 

Q: How many dance productions have been done so far?

A: The dance company nATANDA has produced over 21 lengthy productions. Every year I put out at least one production. All the productions revolve around social, cultural and gender issues of our society, looking at how dance could raise a dialogue. 

Q: Have you collaborated with other organisations/dancers of dance traditions?

A: Yes, I have collaborated with many art focused organisations including Jaffna, Batticaloa and Colombo based cultural organisations and internationally with Japan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Nepal, India, Korea USA, South Africa and Netherlands. I created a dance production based on Child rights for the Youth Congress in 2019 commissioned by the Max Mueller Bhavan Goethe Institute in New Delhi. It was during the pandemic and it was an online production. It was a very challenging experience to work with so many children from South Asia and do a virtual dance production featuring their voices. 

Q: What do you think Sri Lanka can learn from other countries in mainstreaming dance in particular and art in general into the national economy?

A: We have to train the minds of adults and children towards the arts. There should be many more schools like the Sri Palee College. I would go to the extent of saying make all schools like this school and maybe further broaden the scope for more art and earth based experience than memorisation. Dance is a realm where there is much stereotyping. There is always a stereotype if the dancer is a girl and has to be constantly on stage to make a living out of it. The same in the case of a boy taking to dance. My dance company aimed to break all these stereotypes. There should be creative ideating for far thinking and far reaching policies that elevate the status of dance and position it in all the sectors, from education to health, human rights and tourism.

Q: Can you cite examples where dance as an industry is economically thriving?

A: Yes, take nearby Singapore. It has a thriving dance industry and is a hub for showcasing the world’s art. All around the Western world there is much innovation around dance and there are dance companies selling one ticket for hundreds of euros or dollars. The entertainment economy is huge in those countries.

Q: What can Sri Lanka do to make dance a part of the economic upliftment discourse?

A: Dance and dancers should be given recognition by the state more prominently. The government should professionally study the possible money-making or priority business-oriented use of dance which could support the many talented people in the island. The heritage value of dance should not be cheapened. It should be demanded by tourists and easy access prevented like done with the Kabuki traditional theatrical dance in Japan. Japan makes lots of money out of this dance tradition creating a demand around it but our traditional dance and dancers are being used for every little event launch. The traditional Lankan dance forms have to be protected and properly valued. The tourism industry should make policies to take traditional dance up to a high stream of validation to target the right tourist attraction to make it more sustainable to the economy. Professionally trained dancers should be given more priority to take the leadership of the dance industry. There should be research done to study how other nations are nurturing the dance industry and how dance is evolving in the sphere of entrepreneurship. 

Q: Are you a member of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka?

A: Yes. My personal view is that even running and administering the Arts Council should be re-envisaged so as to include more private sector participation. The Arts Council I believe should undertake more active work at ground level to find out how artists could be supported and for this we should not just rely on seniority. Young people should be included in the Arts Council and State-Private sector projects initiated.