Mirror Magazine

Over the years Footwork has been a key player in the entertainment industry, and today it has become one of the leading event management companies around. Celebrating their 15th anniversary in 2006, they are getting ready to face the coming season with more determination than ever.

Sixteen years ago, Dharshan Wijesooriya, managing director of Footwork, was running a dance school, The Dance Academy, and was involved in presenting dance shows at various events. Offered the opportunity to produce a fashion show, Dharshan took up the challenge and the fashion show called Jungle Stuff (this was after all the ’80s) was the result. The specially choreographed show was impressive enough for Dharshan to be offered a contract for fashion shows on a regular basis.

Working on a complete event with a production team of models, sound and lighting technicians and set designers sparked off an interest in event production, and Dharshan decided to form a company. The name Footwork was decided on, because the show that triggered the launch of the company was based on footwork.

With Dharshan’s love for ballroom dance and the experience gained from doing those early dance shows, he decided that the first major event produced by the newly formed company should be a Dance Championship. So in 1993, the 1st Footwork Dancesport Championship was held at the Hilton Colombo. Gaining confidence from the overwhelming success of the championship, in 1994, Footwork organised Discotheque ’94 a huge event, where all the top DJs in the country performed.

With Dharshan’s ever increasing involvement in the international dance world as an adjudicator, the Footwork Championships have now evolved into International Dancesport Championship with around ten other countries participating each year. Their biggest triumph, says Dharshan, is to have brought down the reigning World Professional Latin American Champions Bryan Watson and Carmen for last year’s championship.

Footwork also has its own team of DJs. Names that have now become famous in their own right, such as Jithendra, Nichula, Pradeep (H2O), Ricky and Roshan were all part of Footwork DJs at one time or another. Today DJs Henry and Shakila are at the helm, always in demand at dances and parties.

With a professional team consisting of set designers, lighting and sound engineers and tireless coordinators, Footwork is today geared to handle any type of event. With novel event concepts and creative ideas, the events organised by them are truly unforgettable experiences for both clients and audiences.

Currently, Footwork is more involved in corporate events. They have over the years worked with companies like Lion Breweries, Dialog Telecom, IBM, ANCL, CSSL (Computer Society of Sri Lanka) and USAID to name a few. Their strength, says Dharshan, is the ability to handle an event from concept onwards till the final production.

The next project Footwork has lined up is to organise a Dancesport Championship in India. Although work is still in the initial stages, if their past track record is anything to go by, it should definitely take India by storm.

More info on footwork is available at www.footworkevents.com. The service they offer is Total Event Management. Translation – we do all the work for you, while you sit back and relax.