Sri Lanka wins first place at Berlin Carnival of Culture

The colorful dance troupe from the Channa - Upuli performing arts foundation Enlarge image The colorful dance troupe from the Channa - Upuli performing arts foundation (© Pradeep Pathirana, Past President, Sri Lanka Association Berlin e.V.) Sri Lanka's Channa-Upuli Performing Arts Foundation brought fame to the country by winning the first place at the 17th Berlin Karneval der Kulturen (Carnival of Cultures) held from May 25 to 28. They competed with 99 international dance troupes comprising around 5000 dancers, for an audience of one million in addition to the television viewers across Germany

The masked dancers, unique to the Southern Sri Lankan style of dancing Enlarge image The masked dancers, unique to the Southern Sri Lankan style of dancing (© Pradeep Pathirana, Past President, Sri Lanka Association Berlin e.V.) The theme of the Sri Lankan team for this year's presentation was "drumming and dancing for unity in diversity". "We want to demonstrate that the culture that unites us is much stronger than anything that can divide us," a representative from the Sri Lanka Association Berlin e.V., which organized and led the Sri Lankan team that participated at this event said.