Kulu Natuma <em>(koo-loo nat-ooma)</em> is a popular Sri Lankan folk dance symbolising the harvesting and winnowing (separating the grain from the chaff) of rice paddy.<br><br>The dance is performed, typically by young girls, to the accompaniment of light drumbeats and music from a flute. A slow, rhythmic chant would normally add context to the performance.<br><br>The primary prop is the winnowing basket, a tool that is in common use in rural Sri Lanka where traditional farming is still practiced. Workers pour the threshed rice off the basket from a height, normally against a wind source, in order to separate the grain from the chaff.<br><br><a title="By LombrosoLombroso (投稿者（Lombroso）が撮影Photo taken by Lombroso) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMi%2C_Japanese_winnow.jpg"><img width="512" alt="Mi, Japanese winnow" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Mi%2C_Japanese_winnow.jpg/512px-Mi%2C_Japanese_winnow.jpg"/></a><br><br>The dance is popular amongst Sri Lankan schoolgirls as it has a simple structure, with clear indigenous meaning.