Dance and Magic Drama in Ceylon PDF Download

Author: Beryl De Zoete
Publisher: London : Faber and Faber
ISBN:
Category : Dance
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
A travel diary of dance, folklore, and mythology.

Author: Robert Aldrich
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317805283
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, was long known to travellers for its luxuriant landscapes, colourful temples and friendly inhabitants – the island once named Serendip. This book explores the sojourns of gay visitors from the late 1800s to the modern day, providing a history of homosexuality, travel and cultural encounter on the island. The book offers profiles of major figures in Sri Lankan culture and of homosexual visitors, both famous and infamous, to the island. It discusses the experiences of sojourners including the Victorian social reformer Edward Carpenter and the German naturalist Ernst Haeckel, such British and American writers as Paul Bowles and Arthur C. Clarke, and the Australian painter Donald Friend. It also pays particular attention to Lionel Wendt, one of the most important modernist photographers outside Europe. For these figures, an erotic appreciation of young men whom they encountered mixed with interest in Sinhalese art, Buddhist and Hindu spirituality, and the flora and fauna of the island. Their experiences influenced modern writing, art and dance. Cultural influences moved in both directions, however, and Sri Lankans also found inspiration from abroad. The book argues that homosexuals played a major role in the transmission of cultural influences from Sri Lanka to the rest of the world, and from the wider world to this Indian Ocean island. Providing an original analysis of gay cultures in Sri Lanka from Victorian encounters to the present day, this book is the first study of Sri Lanka as a site of gay travel. An excellent study of trans-national cultural exchange, sexuality and the relationships between them, it will be of interest to academics in the field of Asian Studies, Colonial History and Gay and Queer Studies.

Author: Lois Ellfeldt
Publisher: WCB/McGraw-Hill
ISBN:
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description

Author: E. Rust
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313033358
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Despite the world-wide association of music and dance with religion, this is the first full-length study of the subject from a global perspective. The work consists of 3,816 references divided among 37 chapters. It covers tribal, regional, and global religions and such subjects as shamanism, liturgical dance, healing, and the relationship of music, mathematics, and mysticism. The referenced materials display such diverse approaches as analysis of music and dance, description of context, direct experience, observation, and speculation. The references address topics from such disciplines as sociology, anthropology, history, linguistics, musicology, ethnomusicology, theology, medicine, semiotics, and computer technology. Chapter 1 consists of general references to religious music and dance. The remaining 36 chapters are organized according to major geographical areas. Most chapters begin with general reference works and bibliographies, then continue with topics specific to the region or religion. This book will be of use to anyone with an interest in music, dance, religion, or culture.

Author: Deena Burton
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1462835880
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Deena Burton is well known for her accomplishments as a dancer, choreographer, producer, and scholar of Indonesian Arts. In the course of her research she came across the pioneering work of Claire Holt, who had written about art and culture in New York and Europe, especially the rise of Modern Dance, between the fi rst and second World Wars. During a trip to Indonesia in 1930 Claire Holt became enamored of Javanese dance. She stayed for many years, on and off, and was among the community of artists and anthropologists living in Bali at that time including Walter Spies, Colin McPhee, Miguel Covarrubias, Margaret Mead and others who were both deeply infl uenced by this ancient culture and obsessive in documenting Indonesias emergence into the 20th century. This book, which began as Deenas PhD dissertation, is a tribute to her own dedication and that of a kindred spirit - Claire Holt and their love for the arts and peoples of Indonesia. (Pictured above is a young Deena Burton beginning a masked dance).

Author: Lakshmi D. Bulathsinghala
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040021719
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This book explores the development of Sinhala stylistic drama from its earliest manifestations to the post-independence era. Bulathsinghala examines the impact of indigenous and imported folk theatrical forms on the work of the most significant postcolonial stylistic dramatists and on key plays that they produced. In the process, the book explores a number of myths and misunderstandings regarding Sri Lanka’s folk heritage and seeks to establish more reliable information on the principal indigenous Sri Lankan folk dramatic forms and their characteristics. At the same time, by drawing connections between folk drama and the post-independence stylistic theatrical movement, the author demonstrates the essential role of the former in Sinhala culture prior to the advent of Western and other influences and shows how both continue to inflect Sri Lankan drama today. This book will help to open the field of South Asian drama studies to an audience consisting not only of scholars and students but also of general readers who are interested in the fields of drama and theatre and Asian studies.

Author: Bruno Nettl
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780824049461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1126

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Book Description
First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Author: James R. Brandon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521588225
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
A comprehensive and authoritative single-volume reference work on the theatre arts of Asia-Oceania. Nine expert scholars provide entries on performance in twenty countries from Pakistan in the west, through India and Southeast Asia to China, Japan and Korea in the east. An introductory pan-Asian essay explores basic themes - they include ritual, dance, puppetry, training, performance and masks. The national entries concentrate on the historical development of theatre in each country, followed by entries on the major theatre forms, and articles on playwrights, actors and directors. The entries are accompanied by rare photographs and helpful reading lists.

Author: Justin W. Henry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197636306
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Ravana, the demon-king antagonist from the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic poem, has become an unlikely cultural hero among Sinhala Buddhists over the past decade. In Ravana's Kingdom, Justin W. Henry delves into the historical literary reception of the epic in Sri Lanka, charting the adaptions of its themes and characters from the 14th century onwards, as many Sri Lankan Hindus and Buddhists developed a sympathetic impression of Ravana's character, and through the contemporary Ravana revival, which has resulted in the development of an alternative mythological history, depicting Ravana as king of the Sri Lanka's indigenous inhabitants, a formative figure of civilizational antiquity, and the direct ancestor of the Sinhala Buddhist people. Henry offers a careful study of the literary history of the Ramayana in Sri Lanka, employing numerous sources and archives that have until now received little to no scholarly attention, as well as the 21st century revision of a narrative of the Sri Lankan people-a narrative incubated by the general public online, facilitated by social media and by the speed of travel of information in the digital age. Ravana's Kingdom offers a glimpse into a centuries-old, living Ramayana tradition among Hindus and Buddhists in Sri Lanka-a case study of the myth-making process in the digital age.

Author: Susan Anita Reed
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Around the globe, dances that originate in village, temple, and court rituals have been adapted and transformed to carry secular meanings and serve new national purposes. In stage performances, dance competitions, and festivals worldwide, dance has become an emblem of ethnicity and an index of national identity. But what are the "backstage" stories of those dances, and what have been the consequences for their communities of origin? In Dance and the Nation, Susan A. Reed brings to light the complexities of aesthetic politics in a multi-faceted exploration and analysis of the Kandyan dance of Sri Lanka. The dance, which is identified with the island's majority Sinhala ethnic group, is heavily supported by the state. Derived from the Kohomba kankariya, an elaborate village ritual performed by men of the hereditary drummer caste, the dance was adopted by the state as a symbol of traditional Sinhala culture in the postindependence period and opened to individuals of all castes. Reed's evocative account traces the history and consequences of this transition from ritual to stage, situating the dance in relation to postcolonial nationalism and ethnic politics and emphasizing the voices and perspectives of the hereditary dancers and women performers. Kandyan dance is characterized by an elegant and energetic style and lively displays of agility. The companion DVD includes unparalleled footage of this vibrant dance in ritual, stage, and training contexts, and features the most esteemed performers of the Kandyan region.