Parampara

PARAMPARA - ‘from generation to generation’ in Sinhalese - portrays three generations of female professional dancers who, despite social and political obstacles, developed and upheld a traditionally male-centric ritual dance form through the island’s turbulent post-independence history.
In an immersive video installation with live dance, archival material from three generations of the Chitrasena family is overlaid with imagery from the rapidly changing present, set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s political and economic shifts across three distinct eras. The dancer’s body and the rhythm of the drum, fed by a millennia-old form, combine as a moment of resistance.
What is the future of the dance?