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Before we left Kandy, we attended an evening of Kandyan Dance. It was a tourist show, but it was excellent!

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This show was held at the Kandy Arts Association Hall, where we also bought some nice handicrafts, and watched artisans at work. This performance featured Kandyan and Low Country Dance. There are five traditional instruments in the orchestra, which are normally played three times daily at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy.
I believe this is the Pooja dance, which pays homage to the guardian deities and the dancing teachers.

The Panteru Netum, or "Tambourine Dance" (because they play tambourines in it!) One minute they're standing...

...the next they are doing backflips!

The Cobra Dance. The women in black are the cobras. The "snake charmer" is in the centre.

A little out of sequence, but how do you like their balance? Incidentally, the blue line across the back curtain was something onstage, not something wrong with my camera.
The Mask Dance of the Low Country. The Gurula (bird) on the left is going to kill the cobra on the right. This is the sort of demon dancing our guide Jayantha's father did, to drive away evil spirits.

The Mayura Vannama, or peacock dance.

The Raban Dance. I wish I had such balancing skills! Some days, it's all I can do to walk down the stairs without tripping. Okay, well, some days it's all I can do to get out of bed and struggle into the kitchen for tea.

The Ves Dance. Let me quote from the programme we got at the show: "Ves is the traditional attire of the Kandyan Dancer. Sixty-four ornaments complete the dress. It takes years of rigorous training before a dancer can attain the status of a fully-fledged Ves dancer."
Beautiful costumes, talented performers. What a great show! We weren't sure what to expect for 300 rupees (about three bucks US), but they went above and beyond.

The Gurula (bird) of the Mask Dance.

At the end of the dance show, there was also fire-walking, as well as fire eating, and the touching of the arms and other body parts with a flaming torch. Ouch! If you're sitting in the front row, you might want to move back a little. They are quite free and easy with the use of firestarter... not sure what flammable liquid it was, but they would have broken every safety code in Canada.
The next day, it was time to pack our things and leave for Colombo. The train station at Kandy. History in action!
Train engineer (that's what you call the driver guy, right? Ahem.) Another day, another self-portrait on the train!
The Kandy Station dog. I think he belongs to the station because he's actually wearing a collar, and looks well-fed. Platform 21. Or something.
Snacks for your journey? Don't mind if I do! Some schoolboys running for the train. They missed it.
The countryside outside Kandy. A dagoba next to the tracks.
Another shot of the dagoba. Monastery and rice paddies by the tracks. Our journey is coming to an end in more ways than one. Soon we'll be in Colombo, and soon after that (but later than we thought!), we'll be flying home to Vancouver. Sigh!
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All photos and text copyright Natalie Rowe 2008 - Stealing brings bad karma. Don't make me set my lawyer-husband upon you!