Entertainment

‘Attitude’ - dynamic in theme

by Mahes Perera

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Try as you may, you will not be able to put the stops on the incredible and spellbinding choreography of dancer Natasha Jayasuriya. She has a fund of ideas in that think tank of hers and with her young and enthusiastic dancers ‘Attitude’ will come alive at the Bishop’s College Auditorium on July 23 and July 24 at 7.30 p.m.

“Attitude is something new. I chose the name because different types of dances have attitude - be it classical ballet, hip-hop, free jazz, modern or Latin. After the success of my first production ‘Hipnotic’ I needed to have an attention getter title and we chose Attitude.

The show will be for one and a half hours, one hundred and sixty of my pupils will be taking part and we are geared to take this production to greater heights,” comments Natasha when we caught up with her between rehearsals.

Trained abroad in her field of dancing, Natasha came back home brimful with ideas and a dance discipline which she was determined to instil in all her young dancers at the Deanna School of Dancing.

“The routines have been updated especially the steps which are new and the dancers have learnt steps that are much harder. The dances are new, I’ve thrown in some old ones as well. The music is all familiar which everyone will enjoy. Hip hop is predominant, in fact the show is centred round this culture, but there are routines to the music of Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson, Madonna to name a few and popular film themes,” continued Natasha.

The artistic director of the school, Natasha’s dance background is impressive. She holds portfolios for classical ballet, hip hop, street jazz and tap, Spanish dance, Ballroom and Latin. Her professionalism and unique style of dance has been recognised in many countries world wide. She has dazzled audiences from UK to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Shanghai.

Another remarkable experience in Natasha’s career was her successful performance at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations in UK in 2003. She has played a vital role in the direction of Sri Lankan productions including choreographing music videos for the now generation musicians.

‘Hipnotic’ was a ‘sold out affair’ and now ‘Attitude’ with a high degree of young talent and innovative movements of dance is bound to, as the blurbs go, mesmerize you with its rhythms and free style dances.

Thriloka -almost acoustic

Thriloka Almost Acoustic is going to be a concert with a difference which will be held at the Russian Cultural Centre on Friday July 18 at 7.00 p.m. Thriloka will see the acclaimed western classical pianist Eshantha Peiris playing along with them. In fact he performed with Thriloka when the band released their maiden CD “Bisura” - realm of higher listening.

Back from the New York University where he completed a degree in Music Composition Eshantha Peiris commented that the music at the concert will be a blend of traditional Sri Lankan music with folk themes arranged to suit modern appreciation.

He will be playing on an acoustic piano and the guitarist Sarani Perera will play acoustic guitar. The music was composed collectively by the members of the band with advice on chord arrangements from Eshantha.

“Rehearsals so far have been fun and fruitful and the boys want to establish themselves in Sri Lanka with more live performances before they go abroad for concerts,” voiced Eshantha who has been a kind of a pillar of strength to the other young musicians in their creativity quest.

Thriloka comprises Sarani Perera - guitar, Uvindu Perera - bass, Eshantha Peiris - piano, Harshan Gallage - acoustic drums and Pabalu Wijegoonawardena - Sri Lankan traditional drums.

“This concert at the Russian Cultural Centre could be considered to give a ‘kick start’ to our concert performances which we are looking forward to. Thriloka has been playing TV shows these past few months and some corporate events.

At Friday’s concert Kalani Perera - violin and Anthony Surendra - mandolin will join us and we hope that soon we will be invited for concert performances abroad,” voices Pabulu Wijegoonewardena who plays a variety of Sri Lankan traditional drums.

In the music scene for about fifteen years Pabulu recently staged Maha Ravana, at the John de Silva theatre a dance drama in free style choreography which was created by Pabulu and well received by the houseful audience.

Now Thriloka Almost Acoustic with a programme of new compositions is bound to take you on a esoteric flight.

Burghers’ Night

The Burgher Recreation Club with a colourful history of over one hundred and ten years in the sport and social spheres will hold its Annual Dinner Dance - Burghers’ Night at the Waters Edge Grand Ballroom on July 25. The music will be by the Gypsies and Misty with more than 400 participants to make the night unforgettable.

The event will help to raise funds for the development programs at BRC including the construction of the Centenary Sports Complex.