Proud To Be A Sri Lankan (:

Creating and performing the Sri Lanka UN Day performance was a fun filled process. At first the teachers in charge wanted to do a traditional Kandyan dance but Yanika and I thought we should do something different this year and focus on a different aspect of being a Sri Lankan; baila. We had to put in a lot of time in to the rehearsals in the form of lunch breaks and after school. The teachers decided that we would sing a song ‘Apa wemu Sri Lanka’ (We are Sri Lanka) by Shohan, a Sri Lankan artist. Yanika and I were adamant about including baila and we had the perfect song in mind; the recently released ‘Rambari’ which is popular among Sri Lankans of all ages. The plan was to introduce the presentation with a Kandyan dance by Thishakya, Sandali and Nadeera, while we paraded our Sri Lankan attire, followed by us singing the song ending with the baila. I thought the fashion show thing was a bit too much, a waste of time and pointless really. We were crowding too much into a 10 minute presentation. I really enjoyed discussing my ideas with Ms. Kithmini and Mrs. Illaperuma and helping to shape the presentation.

On the day of the rehearsal in the auditorium, two lawyers, friends of Yanika’s father, saw our performance and thought the baila was pathetic and offered to help us. Ruwinda, Shamith, Sala, Yanika and I stayed after school and we, with the two uncles help, choreographed the dance. It was really fun as those two are very fun loving and nice. We told the rest of the group what we had planned and with certain other ideas and variations they had we managed to choreograph a great dance. It was a bit hard since most people left early during rehearsals for SAISA practices and some just weren’t committed enough. Some others wouldn’t voice their opinion and help in the process of shaping the dance but rather grumbled behind the backs of people who were actively involved. It really annoyed me. I learnt new dance moves and to work collaboratively and compromise. The dance had a lot of typical Sri Lankan humour like the end when I went to the front of the stage and called Umeshan out of the boys very flirtatiously and then Anisha, who was my mother, came out and saw us and was very mad at Umeshan and dragged me off. It’s the typical Sri Lankan lover scenario. She was originally going to whack Umeshan with a broom but the organizers were against ‘showing violence on stage with could have cultural implications and have the potential to offend’.

Our presentation was the opening performance as Sri Lanka is the host country. It was a brilliant performance; full of spirit and we all had fun (: