Hotel Nippon: An icon of Colombo
Originally from Ragama, Chandrika Serasinghe believes it was her destiny to end up working at the Nippon Hotel – a place whose unusual façade always had a pull on her whenever she…
Arts and Theatre
‘Heal Lanka’ by Ras Ceylon
A retweet this morning from Ras Ceylon alerted us to the fact that he was following our feed. We first read about Ras Ceylon on Sepia Mutiny, interviewed by the inimitable Tanzila…
A review of (Un)making Time: ‘My Other History’ and ‘Rondo’
Image from ‘Rondo’ Image from ‘My Other History’ “We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue… And then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the…
A Lost White Tribe: The Eurasians of Sri Lanka
A Lost White Tribe: The Eurasians of Sri Lanka is a personal look at some of the last remaining ‘Eurasians’, and part of the Moving Images commissioned and supported by . Produced…
A brief impression of ‘Rondo’
Original photo courtesy Mind Adventures Rondo is a devised theatre play, based on the theme of reconciliation, says the programme note for the production of RONDO by Tracy Holsinger and the Mind…
A brief impression of ‘My Other History’
Life span of one hour, four people performed excellently at a renovated warehouse down Park Street Mews. I was rooted to my seat and watched and listened in careful concentration to capture…
Interview with Mohamed Adamaly: A life in English theatre
Mohamed Adamaly is one of Sri Lanka’s best known theatre personalities. As an actor, director and now increasingly a producer of films as well, Adam, as he is often referred to, always…
Imaging the aftermath
“Absence of war does not mean peace. Meaningful peace can only be achieved by accepting separate identities and by trying to understand and accept the differences and uniqueness of cultural diversity. Peace…
Heshma Wignaraja: Thoughts on dance and choreography
Heshma Wignaraja is the Artistic Director of the Chitrasena Dance Company. Just recently, Groundviews featured an interview with her grand-mother Vajira, rightly often referred to as Sri Lanka’s Prima Ballerina. In the…
Shyam Selvadurai: Literature, identity, politics and the Galle Literary Festival
Shyam Selvadurai was born in 1965. His book was as much about class and ethnicity as sexual identities, and though Shyam has repeatedly noted that it was not autobiographical, the fiction is…
Sethu Samudram: Bridging art, history and human relations
“Sethu Samudram” is a three-year collaborative art project and a dialog-making platform between Theertha International Artists Collective, Colombo, Sri Lanka and 1Shanthi Road in Bangalore, India. “Sethu Samudram” is the name of…
Interview with Asoka Handagama
Asoka Handagama is one of Sri Lanka’s best known and most controversial filmmakers. His films divide audiences and the critics – you either love them and celebrate his genius, or you hate…
The Gaza Monologues: An interview with Ruhanie Perera and Jake Oorloff
[Editors note: Also see for video footage from and a review of the production.] Ruhanie Perera and Jake Oorloff co-created Floating Space in 2007. Gaza Monologues was their latest production, running to…
Interview with Vajira, Sri Lanka’s Prima Ballerina Assoluta
Vajira is now 78. In just over half an hour and recorded at the Chitrasena and Vajira Dance School, Vajira looks back at her life and recalls how she began to dance,…
Thoughts on ‘Dancing for the Gods’ by the Chitrasena and Vajira Dance Foundation
-Â Chitrasena I recently asked the illustrious Bijayini Satpathy, Director of the Odissi Gurukul at Nrityagram how she negotiated the contest between tradition and modernity in her interpretation of Odissi dance – the…