Arts
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up budding artists "Every child from the age of two onwards loves to scribble, doodle and draw on walls. They enjoy messing up every surface and end up hearing ‘don't’ more than a million times," says Shyamala. She traces the beginnings of the "inhibitive process" to the moment when the children learn to confine their work within the boundaries of an A4 sheet. The next step on the painful path is taken when adults around the child insist on perfection of shapes and forms instead of encouraging the child's imagination, she says. Artistic children who have been brought up like this will soon find all their artistry stamped out of them, fears Shyamala. She wonders why this happens so often when it seems so obviously detrimental to the growth of a child. To her it seems obvious that by encouraging the creativity in a child we can help them grow into well-rounded, well balanced individuals. Art frees the individual like nothing else can, she believes, broadening one's perspective and building self-motivation. This is advantageous for children especially, as they imbibe simple values such as patience, discipline and finishing what they began along the way. Shyamala says she sees artistic children successfully applying their skills in whatever profession they settle into. Unfortunately the benefits of encouraging creativity in children are mostly unrecognised. "Many parents want their children to choose "respectable" professions such as law or medicine, and simply won’t allow them to even consider a career in art." Parental pressure when combined with the disapproval of society means that many young artists learn to repress any artistic leanings they may have had. This, Shyamala feels is a great loss to our society. "The world needs out of the box thinkers and to find such people in our country is by no means an easy task," she says. The root of the problem, according to her, lies in our education system. A teacher herself for 20 years, Shyamala has been witness to the contempt with which art is treated in the island's schools. "Children are sent for art only if they are not good at anything else," she says, with everyone from the principal to the art teacher herself treating the subject as inferior. Obviously the child becomes aware of these perceptions and feels it keenly. A woman of immense conviction, Shyamala takes her art classes very seriously because she sees the chance to change such antiquated and biased notions. "The reason why art has no scope in this country is because people are simply unaware of the numerous disciplines that art can be applied to," she says. Whether it's architecture or textile designing, she believes that the aesthetically gifted are irreplaceable. "It’s time that we stopped losing our most creative minds to the developed nations," she states. She believes she has begun to fight back with the foundation of her own school, where young artists bloom under her watchful gaze. Focused on the development of the children under her care - ranging from 4-year-olds to 19-year-olds - Shyamala holds nothing back. "They may not grow up to be great artists, but whatever they do, they will do creatively," she says, "and that's a start." She also takes a firm stand on the subject of art tuition, which she simply refuses to give. She feels strongly that no child should be forced to create with the aim of getting better grades. Art is a form of communication and escape she believes; a gift that should not be lightly tossed aside. Yet this has happened time and again as children grow older and need to focus on their London O'levels and A'levels. Now she wishes to change that by giving her students the option of exploring careers in art. One of the ways she intends to achieve this is by offering her students a diploma in fine arts. The course, which is to be carried out in association with a renowned fine arts college in London, will be officially launched later in the year. Those who take the course will receive a diploma and hopefully find a world of opportunities opening up to them. In the meantime she is content . "I started with two children three years ago," she says," and now I have seventy." As she meets her students for one of their small group sessions, you can see why. They are a loud, noisy, happy bunch and they seem to simply love her. ""My reward is in seeing these free, happy, society friendly children," Shyamala affirms. "It’s like a lotus," she elaborates, "you know it's beautiful on the inside, but you have to open it first - petal by petal - before that beauty can be revealed." The
drama begins and he brings on the lights Thushan Dias is no stranger to the local theatre scene. Having worked with most reputed stage directors, he has made a name for himself in both English and Sinhala theatre productions. "My father Mahinda Dias got involved in this field initially working together with his uncle Dick Dias. Being a pioneer in stage lighting, my father's influence is what led me into the subject," says the third generation member of this family concern. "My main focus right now is to promote theatre in Sri Lanka, especially Sinhala theatre. During my father's days with productions such as Maname and Sinhabahu, people actually went to the theatre, but now the numbers have dropped. We need to change this attitude, and this is my concept in the promotion of drama," says Thushan, who works as full time theatre consultant at present. Already established as a stage lighting expert, Thushan is now trying his hand at producing, with his maiden production Ayeth Enné Né going on the boards early next month. "A translation of Ariel Dorfman’s ‘Widows’, this is an adaptation to stage by the novelist, working with American playwright Tony Kushner," says Thushan. The cast comprises many big names in the teledrama circuit, Kusum Renu, Deepani Silva, Nihal Fernando, Roshan Pilapitiya and Ranga Ravindra among a host of others. Dealing with a somewhat sorrowful theme, the production nevertheless, promises to captivate its audience. Working on local theatre productions for the past 18 years, in addition to being a theatre consultant Thushan is also a visiting lecturer at the Department of Fine Arts of the University of Colombo as well as at the National Institute of Education. Involved with the Rupavahini Corporation, he also teaches Ordinary and Advanced Level students about stage lighting. The theatre consultant for the Overseas School, he has designed an experimental theatre, which can be converted to either an Arena theatre or a Thrust theatre, within the space of about one hour. Having followed several courses on stage lighting in the United Kingdom, Thushan has worked with many productions at the British Council. Along the way he has won the award for Best Designer Stage Lighting, in both 1995 and 2004, at the State Drama Festival. His production of Ayeth Enné Né incidentally won the awards for best play, stage lighting, stage management and best script at the State Drama Festival. Working with fully computerized equipment, Thushan uses the Strand 500 series for his productions. Unfortunately almost 75% of his equipment was destroyed as a result of the tsunami, but thanks to the combined aid of the Shared Experience Theatre Company, White Light, Royal Opera House and Royal Festival Hall, Thushan received second hand equipment and is now back on his feet. Handling the lighting for major productions by Jerome L. De Silva, such as Les Miserables, Lion King, West Side Story and Royal Hunt of the Sun, Thushan has also worked on Feroze Kamardeen's Widows, as well as Jehan Aloysius's Ritual and the Prince of Egypt. He also worked with Lalitha Sarathchandra's Yearma, a major Sinhala productions. Ayeth Enné Né will be staged on June 3, at 7 p.m, at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. In
praise of singing They will be accompanied by Thilanka Jayamanne (flute), Nuwan Senaratne (piano) and Navin Fernando (trumpet). Asitha Tennakoon (tenor) who is known for the quality of his voice and committed musicianship will be the soloist. Antoinetta Notariela, Examiner for the Royal School of Music commenting on past performances of the Cantata Singers has said, "The excerpts from the Messiah were sung with a lovely quality of sound and beautiful phrasing, with distinguished conducting by Satyendra Chellappah. The Cantata Singers’ performance of the “Nelson Mass” has been described by a reviewer as “a rewarding experience for the many who spent an enthralling hour listening to them.” Colombo audiences will remember the polished performance of Handel's "Samson" and "Solomon" as well as Masses by Mozart, Schutz and Haydn, "Gloria" by Vivaldi and Pergolosi's "Magnificat". The repertoire of the Cantata Singers includes Four Part Songs, Madrigals, Ballads, and Plantation Songs, Spirituals and Sacred masterpieces. Chellappah takes infinite pains to get the best out of the collective as well as the individual voices. He believes that the human voice is the best instrument in the world. The performance on June 4 promises to be a rich musical experience for the audience. Beat
and blend of the old and new The stage lights then focused on the drummers dressed in the style of traditional Kandyan drummers. Their hands beat the drums in unison and gradually the beat rose to a crescendo. Then came Mohan Sudusinghe, with his fine physique, moving rhythmically to the beat of the drums. His hands, his feet co-ordinated in movement, he had the balance of the experienced dancer. His costume was different too as he blended colours and gold armlets and anklets and a glistening broad collar. Susantha and Prasantha Rupasinghe are brothers who have been drummers and dancers since they were four years old and they accompanied Mohan while also performing separately on the drums. The show had improvised on the traditional dance movements so there was both tradition and novelty. The music and sets changed and there was Mohan leaping across the stage to the accompaniment of what sounded like African tribal music. Mohan as the choreographer as well as the dancer had incorporated modern dance items and there was free movement as individual and group dancers moved gracefully to modern music. From the Kandyan or up-country geta beray or Kandyan drum to the thamattama played on with sticks, the range of drums and the sounds emanating from their skilful handling were brought out in the course of the evening. The "Lak Uruma Foundation" which presented the show said that it featured 30 of the country's finest oriental drummers and dancers. But to me, "Heli Rangara" showed me that Sri Lanka is carrying on the best from our colourful and eventful past and moving into the modern world. Mohan Sudusinghe who has his own gymnasium and dance studio, "Heavenly Bodies", epitomized the old and the new as he danced and drummed his way into our hearts. |
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