Low Country Dance
Low country dance is performed to please the sickness-causing evil
spirits. The dancers put masks on their faces. These masks resemble
birds, demons, reptiles etc. This type of dance is highly ritualistic.
If the mnemonics of the drum govern the form of the Dance, it is
nowhere better illustrated than in the Low Country dances of Ceylon
where the Yak Bera (the “demon drum”) plays so important a role. The
rather free and easy movement and basic rhythm of the Devol Dancer,
combining with a very elementary mime danced to the Yak Bera, typifies
Low-Country dancing. The Devol Madu (the ritual structure) for the dance
of appeasement of the Gods is the Low-Country parallel of the Kohomba
Kankariya. It is the Yak or devil and, therefore, primitive quality of
Devol that gives it its basic magic and enchantment.
The Ves (mask) is elaborate and sophisticated in the Kandyan dance and
does not completely mask the dancer but rather transforms him through
the head-dress, symbolically. In the Low-Country masked dance, the
dancer is possessed of an entirely masked face. The masks are themselves
superbly turned out works of art. Masked dancing to the Yak Bera is the
unparalleled contribution of the Low-Country dance
No comments:
Post a Comment