Sinhala and Tamil new year is a big event in Sri Lanka, with colourful decorations filling public spaces, delicious treats being sold on every corner and for the OSC community one of the best assemblies every year. Tradition dictates that every year the DP2s, as it is their final year, perform a dance in front of the whole school incorporating Sri Lankan music and beats into their routine. This was unfortunately broken last year as they posed a tug-of-war instead. But this year Pep was set on a mission to rekindle this tradition that so many are fond of as her CAS project.

So where do I tie into this? Pep asked everyone in the grade whether they would be comfortable dancing or not. I was an immediate yes and couldn’t wait to join in. Even those who had originally auditioned to be drummers ended up joining in on the dancing. Almost the whole grade joined in for the dancing in pairs but more on that later.

After Pep had choreographed the whole thing, we gathered in the movement room to learn the dance. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, with only Chirath being gifted in rhythm we had to follow his lead on when to clap to the beat. There were moments where everyone doubted their ability but laughing got us through the stumbling. Ethan even jokingly dedicated a dance move which found its way into the final performance and I have to say, it was one of my favourite bits.

Our final rehearsal took place in homeroom, moments before the Avurudu assembly was to begin. We weren’t truly confident in our ability to keep to the beat but to our surprise we made our way through the dance and wrapped it up just as the assembly began. With everyone high in spirits we now only had to wait for the very end of the assembly to perform.

Just before the music started we lined up with our partners and moved to the front to perform. I really enjoyed this experience because dancing is something I’ve loved doing as a child, and it was an amazing opportunity to do so one last time during my time in school. The people I did it with made it such an amazing and unforgetable experience that I will cherish forever more as one of my core memories. The crowd went wild for our dance moves and talent (or lack thereof) and made smiles appear on our faces during our final pose in our final days at OSC.

I can’t put the dance into words but here’s a few videos that show our talents off.

Featured Image Credit: Mohan Fernando