DANCE

In what promises to be another fascinating evening of sound and motion, NAADRO and DANCERS' GUILD will launch the DVD of the popular 90 minute live concert 'Drums&Dance' with what will be their fourth public performance. The event will be held at the Bishops College Auditorium on March 26.

Drums&Dance - a percussion with a series of dance acts and electrifying tempo, is also the coming together of two superbly skilled and gifted Sri Lankan artistes, Chandana Wickramasinghe and Rakitha Wickramaratne, acclaimed and applauded locally and internationally for producing and staging novel and original recitals and concerts.

Both artistes have exploited their obsession for rhythm from toddler days and achieved outstanding triumph. Having a passion for novelty, Chandana and Rakitha have introduced 'Drums&Dance' in order to promote alternate entertainment to a multi social diverse society with an unique concept and understanding to accept values, cultures and traditions, whilst merging and integrating vibrant rhythm, stimulating movements and pulsating beats.

The style and rhythm display passion and imagination. Besides entertainment Drums&Dance also communicates a message and imparts awareness on the benefits accessible and the potential available from an 'out of the box' concept performance.

Drums&Dance also seeks to contribute towards entertainment and promotion activities in Sri Lanka and overseas simultaneously.

Rakitha Chandana

Percussionist Rakitha Ruwan Wikramaratne is the founder and leader of NAADRO - a percussion ensemble formed with a group of young professional talented percussion artists 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.

Rakitha is the first Sri Lankan to introduce stimulating sounds and exciting rhythm with non musical instruments (egs: 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.

The dancers' Guild is committed to offer 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.

DANCE

Sound and style