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Saturday, 19 August 2017 00:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Walking in to this practice session you feel as though there is something more at work here than simply another dance concert. The dancers are midway through their stretching and Naomi sits regally at her chair looking over them. ‘Jive flicks!’ she calls out and the dancers begin taking their place on the dance floor; girls to one side, boys to the other.
There seems to be a sort of nervous excitement regarding the warm-up session and I soon find out why. Jive flicks, while sounding harmless enough, actually consist of a sort of mash-up between high intensity cardio and a killer leg work out; if this is the warm-up, I’m ecstatic to see what the rest of the routines look like.
Over the years Naomi Rajaratnam has never disappointed her audiences. Her signature dance productions, aptly named ‘With my Feet’ opened to Colombo on 26 and 27 August in 2000. And since then, the ‘With my Feet’ performances have continued to mesmerize the country’s dance enthusiasts. After an absence of nearly 10 years, Naomi returns with ‘Resurrection’, which goes on stage at the Bishops College Auditorium on 26 and 27 August, exactly 17 years since the first ‘With my Feet’ production. Among her cast are two dancers who performed in the first production in 2000, a rare occurrence in the dance circuit. The cast consists of dancers of varying degrees of training and experience, all of them now brought together as one unified body under Naomi’s impeccable tutelage. The result is quite exceptional, and no doubt a deep personal experience for each of the dancers and Naomi herself. Resurrection will showcase the genres of Latin American, Ballroom, hip-hop, fusion and contemporary styles; and will further include pieces that incorporate jazz and bangra as well as bollywood styles.
The box plan for Resurrection opens in the second week of August and tickets are priced at Rs. 1.500, Rs. 2,000, Rs. 3,000, Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 750 for balcony. For more details on the production, log on to the fb page @ResurrectionbyNaomi and on Instagram withmyfeet_resurrection
Tickets are available at the Bishops College Office from 8 August onwards.
FT Alert
‘Resurrection’ goes on stage at the Bishops College Auditorium on 26 and 27 August. Tickets are available at the Bishops College Office from 8 August onwards.