Dance, music and celebrations at the Folklore Festival

The stage is set at the twenty-sixth International Folklore Festival at Sidmouth in Devon, with a preview into the festivities introduced by TV reporter Lawrie Quayle. A lively yet brief performance of Sri Lankan Kandyan dance, drum music, families playing - all make for an unforgettable summer's day!

TV reporter Lawrie Quayle introduces a preview of the twenty-sixth International Folklore Festival at Sidmouth in Devon. Women perform a Sri Lankan Kandyan dance to drum music. The Kandyan dance is native to the area around Kandy, the last royal capital of Sri Lanka in the central hills and 70 miles away from today’s capital Colombo. The origins of the dance come from the ritual known as Kohomba Kankariya, a traditional Sinhala folk rite for the deity Kohomba Yaka.