Recontextualizing Form Of Dance In Polonnaruwa Era

Abstract

Polonnaruwa era, Dance, Dassiattam, Dance is an anthropological aspect in all cultures in the world and it has been pop- ular in the developed or undeveloped human societies all over the world. Historical sources emphasize that Sri Lankans had a very well-developed art of dance and we find evidence from Anuradhapura era to Kandyan era. As there has not been any study on this theme, it is impossible to have a comprehensive knowledge on the art of dance during the Polonnaruwa period, from 1017 – 1215. It is believed that dance was a ritualistic feature of this period and the style is similar to that of South Indian devadasi dance. Devadasis were dancing girls who used to be addressed as servants of God and they were the symbols of communicating religious aspects in India. According to historical sources of Polonnaruwa era, there were dancing girls (Devadasis) who danced as a ritualistic feature. There are many archeological sourc- es depicting dassiattam style which emphasizes the dasiattam of the above era. The main objective of this research is to recontextualize the dance form which was estab- lished in the Polonnaruwa period as a cultural phenomenon which interrelates with cultural aspects. Therefore, this research uses an anthropological methodology by using comparative framework where the basic concepts of choreography techniques su