Emotions in motion

An ‘out of the box’ concept that promises new energy to a drums and dance performance:

Two superbly skilled and gifted Sri Lankan artistes will come together in Drums & Dance, a one of a kind performance that both energized and galvanizes percussion, music and dance at the Bishops College Auditorium on May 28.

Veterans Rakitha Wickramaratne and Chandana Wickramasinghe are renowned professional artistes acclaimed and applauded locally and internationally for producing and staging novel recitals and concerts.

Both artistes have exploited their obsession for rhythm from toddler days and achieved outstanding triumph.

Drums & Dance promises to offer alternate entertainment to a multi social diverse society; blending cultures, traditions and contemporary music. The 90 minute concert will have 12 novel recitals with talented artistes exploiting tempo and rhythm to stir up emotions.

Besides entertainment, Drums & Dance also promises communicate a message and impart awareness on the benefits accessible and the potential available from an ‘out of the box’ concept performance.

About the Artistes

Rakitha – passion for novelty

Percussionist Rakitha Ruwan Wikramaratne is the founder and leader of NAADRO - A percussion ensemble formed with a group of young professional talented percussion artistes within Sri Lanka.

A student of Royal College, Colombo, Rakitha began his percussion debut with traditional Sri Lankan drumming under the expert and proficient guidance of Maestro Piyasaara Shilpadhipathi. Having a passion for novelty, he went ahead experimenting rhythm with traditions and cultures around the world pacing with modern beat. Some of his favourite tempo includes Indian, Arabic, African, Japanese and Latino percussion.

He is the first Sri Lankan to introduce stimulating sounds and exciting rhythm with non musical instruments (eg: kitchen utensils, vehicle spare parts, masonry tools, etc.) and termed this creative cadence ‘sound making’. Very quickly this pulsating ‘sound making’ performance by NAADRO caught recognition and trapped reputed international and local corporate clients paving the way to expand into commercials with leading brands LP –USA, Gibraltar – USA, KIK-Sri Lanka, REMO-USA, Sennheiser-Germany.

NAADRO has performed at several overseas festivals and concerts in India, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, United States, Norway and many other international tours. The band is globally accepted as one of the leading youth percussion groups in the world dedicated to present rhythm and tempo with an innovative style exhilarating on diverse and assorted “sound making”.

Annually NAADRO is invited to represent as an Endorser at the world renowned National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in the USA.

Dance Choreographer Chandana Wickramasinghe an acclaimed dancer and founder of Dancers’ Guild, has bagged many local and international awards for outstanding choreography, rhythm, style and character.

Though a traditionally trained Kandyan dancer, Chandana has brought in innovations to the dance form, integrating it with modern beats, a bit of folk and a combination of classical and traditional interventions. Besides dancing, Chandana also has a secret yearning for films and choreography.

In 1999 Chandana and the Dancers’ Guild was established and today with a troupe of almost 40 professional dancers train over 4000 students within Sri Lanka.

The schools groom dancers’ from the age of 4 years and are located in Colombo, Galle, Kiribathgoda, Gampaha, Kegalle, Maharagama and Kandy. The troupe has travelled to almost 70 countries and performed before multi diverse audiences in the cities of Europe, Asia, Middle East, Canada and Australia and received great admiration for their unique style and exquisite dance rhythm.

Dancers’ Guild offers traditional and alternate entertainment to a multi social diverse society through traditional and fusion dance blending with culture and contemporary music; and displaying poetry in motion through stimulating movements and vibrant rhythm. The youthful artistes will also promote this style and rhythm in all its activities via theatre shows, TV shows, music videos, workshops, concerts, cultural festivals, dealer conventions, fashion shows, beauty pageants, product launches and other forms of entertainment.