Of Masks & Myths
A Dance Journey 125 years in the Making By Suzanne Carmel
On October 6 and 7, 2018, the Mandala South Asian Arts Ensemble, accompanied by Sri Lankan artists, will celebrate the culmination of a year-long cultural exchange with the performance Masks and Myths: Devils and Dancers at the Logan Center. Dance and music will depict the traditions of Sri Lankan performance, the effects of colonialism on artistry, and how contemporary Sri Lankan dance has evolved both in spite of and in response to colonialism, expressing the power and bravery necessary to keep art forms alive. Focusing on Sri Lankan dance is of special significance this year as Chicago celebrates the 125th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition—or Chicago World’s Fair— which first brought Sri Lankan culture to the city from the country that, at that time, was called Ceylon. Flash forward to 2017, when Sri Lankan native Sudesh Mantillake was in Chicago to perform and lead a master class at the Logan Center. While passing through Midway Plaisance–site of this first encounter with a Chicago audience–he was deeply moved, inspiring this modern-day, contrasting performance, where Mantillake and the ensemble are free to express and make their own art. Masks and Myths is a piece in three parts. It begins in 1893, with a Sinhalese artist visiting the fairgrounds where other cultural dance forms can be seen. In the second work, he visits Sri Lanka, a culture deeply rooted in history but also undergoing extraordinarily rapid change. The artist reminisces about the dance forms in Sri Lanka. The third work is a response to the history and current state of Sri Lankan artistry, reflecting on and honoring global arts and 64 | arts.uchicago.edu
Chicago perspectives. Dance artists trained in various forms will explore global themes through contemporary movement inspired by Sri Lankan dance. While visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair could experience the lushly appointed Ceylon Building and adjacent tea room, and view a collection of indigenous arts and products, such as spices, the pavilion told a story of Ceylon as filtered through the country’s European colonizers. The Ceylon Building— commissioned by Queen Victoria, designed by British architect H.F. Tomlin, and constructed by 53 Sri Lankan natives—was meant to reflect the architecture and ornamentation native to the island. The natives brought to Chicago to serve tea, perform dances, and pose for photographs were little more than set dressing. Little to no effort was made by the Ceylon Building’s British owners to explain to visitors the nature or cultural significance of the Sri Lankan rituals, wardrobes, or performances presented. Without this much needed context for engaging with a foreign culture, visitors ultimately used the term “Devil Dancers” to describe the performers, because they wore elaborate masks and danced in a “frenzy.” “I hope that after seeing Masks and Myths the audience will look at performance from Sri Lanka and other former colonized countries differently,” says Mantillake. “I believe that in Masks and Myths, we, as Sri Lankans, have an agency to represent what we want to express to the audience about our country and its performances.” Mandala Executive Artistic Director Pranita (Jain) Nayar is in large part responsible for making this performance a reality. Nayar has spent more than twenty years bringing the music
