the 18 Vannam dances

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Vannams are believed to have originated as songs composed in a dance arena in the 18th century and belong to the Kandyan dancing tradition. The word ‘Vannam’ translated to Sinhala ‘Vârnana’ means descriptive praise.

There are seven components of the Vannam dances:

  1. Thànama – Singing a note of the melody to each syllable
  2. Thitha – The beat indicated with cymbals giving a rhythmic timing
  3. Kaviya – The poem vocalized by the dancer
  4. Bera-màtraya – Rhythm of the drum
  5. Kâsthirama – The finale of the first movement of the dance
  6. Seeru-màruwa – The movement in preparation for ‘Adàwwa’
  7. Adàwwa – The finale of rhythmic body and foot movements

The Vannams Gahaka, Gajaga, Asadrusha, Udara and Thuraga are in praise respectively of the conch shell at the King’s consecration, the Royal Elephant, the King’s glory, monarchy and the chariot-horse were the first ones to be written. This later grew into 18 Vannams’ inspired by nature, history, religion and legends.

The 18 classical Vannams’ are as follows:

  1. Gajaga Vannama – Elephant
  2. Hanuma Vannama – Monkey
  3. Mayura Vannama – Peacock
  4. Thuraga Vannama – Horse
  5. Vairodi Vannama – Emerald, precious cats eye stone
  6. Gahaka Vannama – Conch Shell
  7. Musaladi Vannama – Hare
  8. Ukusa Vannama – Hawk
  9. Uraga Vannama – Reptile
  10. Savula Vannama – Rooster
  11. Sinharaja Vannama – Lion
  12. Naiyadi Vannama – Cobra
  13. Kirala Vannama – Lapwing
  14. Eeradi Vannama – Arrow
  15. Surapathi Vannama – praising the Goddess Surapathi
  16. Ganapathi Vannama – praising the God Ganesha
  17. Udara Vannama – expressing the majesty of the King
  18. Asadrusha Vannama – extolling the merits of the Buddha

    Recently added to the list of Vannam:
  19. Chandra Vannama – Ode to the Moon

Click on the Vannam names to read more about it’s background, learn how to perform them and watch videos of their performances!

If you would like us to feature your Vannam dance performances here, please get in touch with us at [email protected]

Online Courses: I have written a FREE course via The Open University London on Kandyan Dance theory. When you complete the course, you will be awarded with a FREE Certificate of Completion. 

මම උඩරට නැටුම් පිළිබඳ ලන්ඩනයේ විවෘත විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය හරහා නොමිලේ පාඨමාලාවක් ලියා ඇත. ඔබ පාඨමාලාව සම්පූර්ණ කරන විට, ඔබට නොමිලේ සම්පූර්ණ කිරීමේ සහතිකයක් පිරිනැමේ. මේ ලින්ක් එකෙන් ගිහින් රෙජිස්ටර් වෙන්න. 

All you have to do is follow this link and register: https://kandyandancers.com/the-open-university-kandyan-dance-courses/

Kandyan Dance Book: I have recently published my first book – in English – introducing Kandyan Dance to readers worldwide. This is the first book to publish overseas in decades! You can find a lot of useful reading material and creative activities suitable for all ages. 

උඩරට නර්තනය ලොව පුරා පාඨකයන්ට හඳුන්වා දෙමින් මම මගේ පළමු පොත – ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් – මෑතකදී ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළෙමි. දශක ගණනාවකට පසු විදේශයන්හි පළ කළ පළමු පොත මෙයයි! සෑම වයස් කාණ්ඩයකටම ගැලපෙන ප්‍රයෝජනවත් කියවීම් ද්‍රව්‍ය සහ නිර්මාණාත්මක ක්‍රියාකාරකම් රාශියක් ඔබට සොයාගත හැකිය. ඔබේම පිටපතක් ලබා ගැනීමට, ඔබට මෙතැනින් ඇණවුම් කළ හැකිය. 

To get your own copy, you can order from here: https://shop.kandyandancers.com/

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Until next time,
#everydayKandyan