Mirror Magazine

‘Nadanupa 1’ was first held four years ago. The main idea behind the programme was for the students of Methodist’s College, doing oriental dancing, to showcase their talents.

The dances will bring on stage students between the ages 11 and 18. Speaking to a few girls helping out for the programme, they said that there will be “nothing western” in the programme. “We do lots of other stuff, like drama, so we thought that it was good for the dancing students,” they went on to say, adding that after their O/levels the students who do art, dancing and music do not follow on with these subjects. So having shows like this gives the dancing students, at least, a chance to go on stage.

The opening dance will be performed by the senior and junior girls. Some of the other dances will be the kalagedi dance by the students of grade seven, the ukusso dance by the senior and junior students and Ran giri giri (a popular song by famous singer Nanda Malini is the background music to this dance) performed by the students of grade eight.

A few of the other dances are the pandam dance, the Vadiga patuna, the mole tree dance, Sangi sangi and the finale will be a performance by the oriental band. These dances will be by the senior and junior school girls, the students of grade six, grade ten and the senior girls, respectively. The band will consist of students from both the senior and junior school.

We spoke to some of the dancers, who said in unison that the show has given them a lot of experience. They have learnt to balance their studies, along with their extra curricular activities. “It gives us confidence that we can do both of these together,” they said. One of the most important things is learning to work as a team.

They also wanted to thank their teacher Nadeeka Mahanama, who did the choreography for the programme. “She has been very encouraging,” they said.
‘Nadanupa 2,’ will be held at the Methodist College, Auditorium. Tickets will be available at the school office, during school hours. For all of you with a flavour for Sri Lankan oriental dancing, this might be the right place to be on July 14 and 15 at 6.30 p.m.