Cultural practices are evolving through time and space shaped by different ideas of the people. Kandyan dance is one of several great examples that we can use to understand the evolution of ideas in Sinhala society in Sri Lanka and also in the Diaspora. Dance movements, costume, music instruments, and music rhythms of Kandyan dance of the Sinhala people in Sri Lanka have been shaped by many cultural contacts. Vedda culture (an indigenous group of people in Sri Lanka), South Indian culture, colonialism, globalism are among those factors that shaped Kandyan dance.
To understand the journey that a culture goes through to different ideas, we need materials from a wide range of history. However, finding and accessing audio visual materials that belong to different periods is very difficult. I was thrilled to notice that Alan Lomax had collected videos of Kandyan dance of Sri Lanka. Kandyan dance video is only one among hundreds of the dance traditions recorded as videos in Lomax’s collection.
