The Princess Unborn by Dr. Basil Mihiripenna is his own story- the story of a dancer’s journey through life.
Dr. Mihiripenna comes from a family steeped in traditional dance, ballet and musical theatre.
He grew up with artistically gifted siblings - his brother was a flautist and his sister a dancer, both of whom influenced his love for dance and theatre. During his schooldays, he was detached from the academic side of school life, instead involving himself in extra curricular arts activities in school and eventually bagging the best musician’s prize.
The book details his journey to Kerala, India, during the 1970’s as a young adult to pursue his dream of becoming a professional dancer. For many years Dr. Mihiripenna nurtured a passion for the traditional dance of Kerala- Kathakali and soon became well versed in it.
It was during this time that he met a princess of Kerala. She was enthralled by his Kathakali and requested a duet with him, to be performed at the palace. Soon this relationship grew, and the humble dancer had fallen for a young girl who was bound by royalty.
But reality intervened and he wrote his princess a farewell letter and returned to Sri Lanka to live a simple life.
The last he heard of his princess was that devastated by his sudden departure from her life she had become a Buddhist nun.
Today Dr. Mihiripenna has created over 20 ballets in his 50 years of dance. His creative work in the field has led to his ideology and understanding of dance as being an expression of emotion and revealing a character through movement.
The book is now complete and he welcomes any sponsors to see it being published.
Married and a father of two children, he hopes the story could be even brought to the big screen one day. |
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