Gratitude
Lanka’s first live performance with Japanese calligraphy was for the 10th anniversary celebration of the Hotel Sunroute, one of the Sotetsu Hotels in Tokyo, in 2017.
The calligraphy piece she scribed was Kan Sha [感謝], which means “gratitude”, chosen by the hotel to show their customers their gratitude at their 10th anniversary.
She performed with live music for the first time, and she was accompanied by two opera singers and a piano. Together they performed the famous opera piece Lakmé, No. 2 – Duet (Flower Duet): “Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs … Dôme épais, le jasmin” (Lakmé, Mallika).
The show at the Hotel Sunroute was a thrilling experience for Lanka. She forgot the world around her during that 5 minutes! It attracted many audience members asking her about her practice and other performance works after the spectacle. This was the beginning of her ambition to do more live performances.