Surasena's ancestors practiced their art at the court of Kandyan Buddhist kings. Kandyan dance is a genre of performance that might be best described as a blend of Indian classical dance and Sinhala folk ritual. It is unique to the highland culture of Sri Lanka.
Items vary from the intensively vigorous to the laconically placid.
Surasena has been the dance instructor for the ISLE Program in Kandy for the past ten years. His current tour of the U.S. bring his troupe to Grinnell, Carleton, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Swarthmore, Holy Cross, University of Chicago, and Whitman Colleges.