KALASURI CHANNA WIJEWARDENA UNDISPUTED KING OF CHOREOGRAPHY HEADS CHANNA UPULI DANCE TROUPE TO UNPRECEDENTED TALL ELEVATIONS FOR OVER FOUR DECADES – by Sunil Thenabadu
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Kalasuri Channa Udayprem Wijewardena , awarded a doctorate for his work on arts from a university in USA ,was born in Rangoon in Myanmar where he had lived only for ten months before the family moved to London for five years as his father was a diplomat attached to the foreign service ,Channa could recollect his younger days living in London ,how the VIP’s were invited to dinner enjoying the delicious curries his mother had prepared. He also remembered his tenure in primary education in the UK at K9 class when he initially learned the steps for ‘chalana’ ,flexibility ,body what one could perform what the body could do.Channa had learnt from his early age how one should stand,walk and sleep in the proper manner. Channa sums up the meaning of ‘dance’ as a ‘religion’. It is predominantly to the ‘heart not to the eyes.” Channa as a tradition at the beginning of any dance recital plays the music of “Dhammo Budunge Sri Dharmas Kanda” which soothes and calms all audiences. Channa believes dance is a ‘pious’ spectacle which is deeply religious following all moral and ethical codes of many religions.
Channa is a native of Dehiwala after he returned to native Sri Lanka has had the secondary education at Isipatana College where he had been a bright student while excelling in the subject Physics which had been useful to him in later years had shone in sports particularly rugby .At the age of fourteen after seen Dr Chitrasena on stage like a ‘marble statue’ had made the change to follow his footsteps to become a professionally dancer. Channa had been employed in some jobs previously which he had not prolonged for long. Channa had been attached to the Cultural Ministry in all of that has had to do something with dance. Channa had been attached as a project officer on Performing Arts at the Education Ministry as well. Having been impressed overwhelmingly with Chitrasena dancing demonstrations had joined the Chitrasena dance academy sans any hesitation.
According to Channa a skilled dancer to become a professional necessitates the innate talent to interpret and transmit narratives and emotions through the tangible form. Nevertheless, what appears crafty and impeccable on stage is the consequence of much more than natural aptitude. Dancers also count on the attributes of tangible resilience and vigour, steadfastness, remembrance preservation and other virtues to showcase entertaining presentations for their viewers. Without the mandatory physical fitness and vigour, dancers cannot successfully execute. Their art requires hours of workouts to maintain proper weight and fitness, as well as enough energy to physically withstand long hours of rehearsal. They must also maintain a high degree of physical flexibility for the many types of skilled movement expected of them. Another necessary physical characteristic for dancers is balance, so that they remain in symmetrical form, coordinated and staying in rhythm as they dance. Additionally, dancers need to be conscious of diet and nutrition to keep their physical systems intact. Dancers require creativity, which help them to articulate the music and story lines they dance by using unique body movements. This artistic ability allows dancers to communicate ideas through physical expression and come up with new ideas to combine to dance routines. A sense of musicality, such as in rhythm, goes along with the creativity that dancers need to perform well which are the beliefs of Channa.
Dancers almost always need to work coordinating with others, even if they occasionally perform solo. They must be able to take direction from their choreographer, and the feature of teamwork is equally essential for coordinating their dance routines with other dancers in their company or production group. Being able to communicate and respond to others’ cues on the dance floor is essential for flawless execution of often complex dance moves. A high degree of trust must also be developed as part of working with a team – for example, when a dancer performs a dangerous move that requires a partner to catch her or hold her in position. Another important factor is to change strategies according to the location, for an example when dance is performed in front of a stage when the audience is seated at a lower elevation .The dance performed in USA should not be the same to that in Colombo and it also differs when performed in Kurunegala which is a wise strategy of Channa.
Dancers do not achieve seamless performances without careful and consistent practice – repeatedly. It may take them years before they develop the expertise to perform professionally. They must have the characteristic of steadfastness to keep rehearsing their moves and routines until they are perfect – with the ability to learn quickly and retain information. A “can do” attitude is the only one that ensures dancers to succeed at their craft. They can’t give up until they achieve the goals of their choreographer , then must persist in learning the next step or routine for their next audition. In the context of the above Channa had affirmed that to be a dancer though it looks easy it is not easy.There are so many factors ,one has to align one’s body, need to become flexible, power to stretch having to perform so many exercises which are different from other usual exercises as hip hop is different, also ballet which is a touch needing to sacrifice a lot. It needs to be emphasised that Kandyan dance , Kandyan exercises are very different also with regard to intake of food too one has to sacrifice.
Channa do get negative comments but much more positive had affirmed that he is open to negative comments . They make me think because you’ll get a negative comment only because you do something erroneous.. “It’s like in a rugby game if you have the rugger ball you are going to get tackled, and if you don’t want to be tackled you just can pass it on to someone else. Positive comments are good, they are lovely. It gives you a smile; to make you feel good makes you feel very excited to do more work because you have a positive comment coming behind “ quipped Channa..
Channa’s shadow is of course Upuli for over two decades. To Channa as She is into the traditional line and she is a fantastic critic. he always shows the dance or the creative part after completing creating. if she says this is right and this is wrong, she’s spot on. The duo do get into disputes to sort out it but then we realise to correct it not taking mush time.
During a dialogue it was uttered that we do give adequate attention to talent in school level. To a specific extent, they give attention but they are more centered on the exams. Well, dance is something you need for your body as one’s body needs movement, what body needs is correct movement. Normally in school, they start dancing from Grade 4 but Channa thinks it should start from kindergarten. Because movements come and you start exploring from a very young age. So more value and attention have to come to dance, right now they do but they must do more.Channa starts training young students from four and a half years to five years which is the ideal time to commence teaching..
The YMCA was just next to Channa’ dwelling where all the sports were there.When Channa was in school he was into basketball, rugby, table tennis, athletics as he just wanted to be a sportsman having had a lot of sports inspirations from senior like Nalin de Silva, Nihal Mendis whose in New York who were my role models having wanted to emulate them. But after seeing Dr Chitrasena it just switched off and then came the dance.
Channa has a high concern for the word ‘RESPECT’ simply the respect for each other, when one does not respect others he does not get respect from others. Channa’s philosophy is to respect your art, home,school, country , city etc.Then the world would be a better place .Channa’s favourite destination is Europe as there are so many countries around. Where he enjoys watching paintings, sculptures many other beautiful places like Venice.Channa loves Indian and Japan to as his next favourites countries.
Channa’s day begins with focus on his work on the previous day, commence with daily exercises at dawn then jotting on things that are scheduled then commence training the dancers starting around 10.30 am until around 3 pm. Thereafter consumes some lunch a small nap ,surf the internet, bit of reading then to television. .
The Covid-19 related pandemic lockdown period had helped him to start finding himself had helped immensely to teach his students and everyone to find themselves because there’s so much time. They started living with themselves, having homemade food, doing everything at home, planting trees and everything became very Sri Lankan and Sri Lankan products started coming out ,he had even started choreographing in distinct ways because it was done virtually.
Channa recollects his most memorable moment on stage in ballet ‘Karadiya’.This ha been a dream of Channa also a dream of many people as it was a wonderful ballet.Channa reminisces practicing so hard, but suddelnly his guru Vajira Chitrasena had conveyed ‘Channa you would be portraying in the last scene for a paltry time of just ten minutes.Not disappointed but until time arrived Channa had been in front of a mirror as he was a firm believer that the audience would view him in the same manner.Just before the scene Dr Chithrasena had said ‘Channa play Sumeda’s character who incidentally dies ,Channa had only to leap around in the dark and was to drop dead.His role though was waiting with keen anticipation was to his disappointment had passed unnoticed. .
Channa recollected an embarrassing moment on stage.. It had been in ‘Kinkini Kolama’. As normally during the break, dancers have their lunch and one of our drummers had his lunch and kept the leftovers in the sink at which time Channa was wearing a Nilame’s costume, to portray as one of the three Nilame’s. It is normal to place paper inside to make the sleeve look big in the costume. Having taken out the paper in the sink and went out with but had accidentally put the paper with all the leftover food with so many ants into the sleeve. Then was embarrassed to be on stage because all the ants were coming down my hand and I was bitten by ants which had my whole arm swollen it’s not easy to perform when you’ve been bitten by ants and you’re swollen aware what was happening inside the sleeve and not forgetting the bad smell. It had smelled so terrible, Channa had realised that none of the dancers had come close to him during the whole ballet. Another ballet which Channa recollects is Nala Damayanthi in which he and Ravibandu had portrayed the role of ‘Nala Kumaraya’ in turns. On several instances Channa had coupled with Dilhani Ekanayake in the ballet. Channa had acknowledged at a television dialogue that from the inception he had coupled with many beautiful dancers very intimately has had connections but not after marriage, he reminisced that one is a medical doctor and the other architect domiciled overseas. Among all dancers Channa had worked with Channa had said undoubtedly the best is Sangeetha Weerarathne as she understands what dance is and she has a degree of knowledge in classical ballet as she had learnt dancing under him also she is very easy to work with. Sangeetha is also very creative helping Channa in a lot in his creations.
Channa reminisces some of his experiences at recitals overseas particularly in USA. Initially the group of Channa was not accepted. But it is usual for the music director to have a chat with Channa about the musical score when the stage is been set for the proposed concert.The music that was presented to the music director the song “Sanda Pini Diye” the lyrics ,music and vocals of Rookantha Gunatilleke the music director had been astonished which enhanced the quality of his concert thereafter.Rookantha had made a plea to Channa do not deploy his song for any concert where he participates as it is his most loved melody which he includes singing seated. Channa had added that he his dance troupe had won many dance competitions overseas. In one triumph in USA 99 dance troupes had participated in all one hundred and seventy nine styles., Channa’s ‘Channa Upuli Dance troupe’ with only ten participants had been adjudicated as the winner. This triumph Channa holds in high esteem.
Channa recently participated in a popular SLRC program where he had to select songs, the first one was “Danno Budunge Sri Dharmas Kanda” a Buddhist song which he plays all concerts at the beginning make the audiences feel relaxed while they listen with pin drop silence..He also selected maestro WD Amaradewa song “ Anothaththa Vila”, a duet of WD Amaradewa and Amitha Wedisinghe an all time hit to which a dance was depicted by his daughter Aseka and two other girls.Channa added that the female party gets the feeling of the dialogue before the male party gets which was amply demonstrated by the trio.Channa to date had been in this craft of dancing for forty eight years since he was fourteen years old.Channa loves to make new creations had affirmed he used to challenge himself at all times to produce innovative creations .In this context all would wish Channa to continue his “Channa Upuli Dance Troupe” to proceed in the same vein sans perhaps with Aseka as she tied the nuptial knot recently with legendary Gamini Fonseka’s nephew.
Sunil Thenabadu
e mail sthenabadu@hotmail.com
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