Defining Sri Lanka’s first dubstep dance group: The Bro’botz

By Rashika Fazali

Dubstep is a growing music genre. It’s best described by a well-known website, AllMusic as: “Tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals.”

If absorbing this piece of musical information was hard, try dancing to this music. You will be puzzled but for these three dancers – Supun Liyon, Chathu Wicks and Rizan B.Boy – moving their bodies to these rhythms is a piece of cake.

Hailed as Sri Lanka’s first dubstep dance group, The Bro’Botz are managed by one of Sri Lanka’s top class artists/producers, The Sherifs who recently made their entrance to the international music arena on the ARIA Top 50 Albums chart at No. 42 for the production of Alston Koch’s latest album ‘Don’t Funk With Me.’

Daily FT recently had a chat with The Bro’Botz on their journey, style and sound. Following are excerpts from the interview:

Q: How did the Bro’Botz start?

Chathu: Well, The Sherifs were due to perform at an event called Xtaztic 2012 in February.  They were on the look out for an opening act, a dance group in fact for a dubstep track they had in mind. I knew Dirk James from my school days and he suggested that I team up with someone else who could dance. So I spoke to Rizan who is from my university and right after that, I met Supun at an event called Tantalize. These two were the best dancers I could find and ever since then we have been together.

Q: Who came up with the name ‘The Bro’Botz’?

A: It’s quite an interesting story. The name was brought up accidently at an interview The Sherifs did for a radio program. Dirk specifically mentioned us as ‘bros who dance like robots,’ hence The Bro’Botz. The interviewer really liked the name since it was so catchy and just like that the name stuck. We used to formally go as F’Electroniqua previously.

Q: Out of many music genres, why did you choose to perform for dubstep music?

A:  We had this notion that we could dance for dubstep because no one else was dancing to it. No one in Sri Lanka knew how to dance to dubstep.  We were inspired to do it after we watched the movie Step Up.

Q: Tell us about your dubstep dance.

A: There is no such thing as the dubstep dance. The dance itself is a fusion of dance styles that involves hip hop, robotics, tutting, pop locking and dime-stopping. It’s mostly about expressing the sound of music through imagery. You can’t just do any dance for dubstep even if you are a good dancer.  You have to show the unique dubstep sounds from your movements.

Q: Where did you learn to dance?

Chathu: I have never professionally learned dancing. Since I was a kid, I used to dance to the music that was played on the radio. I loved Michael Jackson, and whenever he got on, I would just dance. In school, I performed once with a group. Other than that I have never gone for competitions or learnt to dance with the help of a professional. I think you call it ‘born out of a boom box.’

Rizan: My uncle who is a dancer in the UK taught me how to dance. I also learned to dance by watching Michael Jackson. I went for competitions at school and at university. Most of the competitions I competed at, the fight would be between me and Supun.

Supun: I started dancing when I was a kid. My parents realised I could dance when I was in Oman. Once, Arjuna Ranatunga and all the other cricketers came for a concert that was organised by our school. Suddenly my parents realised I was missing.

 They found me on stage dancing with the team for Ronnie Leitch’s music with a signed bat by Sanath Jayasuriya thinking it was my guitar. I was five-years-old then. Once I came to Sri Lanka, I was exposed to different dance styles in school and in university, and I just evolved as a dancer.

Q: Apart from dancing, what else do you do?

Chathu: I play the percussions in my band. I also do drama. I am currently studying for my media studies degree at ANC.

Rizan: I am a singer and I also work at Metropolitan.

Supun: I’m a rapper, and as shocking as this may be, I also teach.

Q: Which artists have influenced your dance style?

Chathu: In my case I would say Michael Jackson, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and Ne-yo.  

Rizan: Michael Jackson and Chris Brown.

Supun: Mad Chad from Step Up, Glitch from So You Think You Can Dance Season 9, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and Michael Jackson.

Q: Your group has unique costumes. Who came up with the idea?    

A: It’s a combination of ideas. Dirk came up with the idea of the masks. The overall idea was influenced by the Jabbawockeez. Each one of us has our unique dance styles and we did not want the crowd to see us as individuals, but as a group. We are not an everyday dance. Dubstep is like the new drug that everyone is willing to take.

Q: Tell us about the gigs you have done so far.

A: Our first gig was at Xtaztic 2012 as we mentioned earlier. Later, we performed at Shaggy Live in Concert. We were the opening act for The Sherifs who were the opening act for Shaggy! We also did a couple of charity events like the cancer awareness program for St. Bridget’s convent, and last Friday we performed in aid of differently abled children.  

Q: Where do you see the Bro’botz in five years?

A: Five years? Let’s make it two years! We hope to perform at Tomrrowland or at the Ultra Music Festival!

Q: Is there a specific message you hope to send out with your dance style?

A: We are robots who are trying to dance like humans! Jokes aside, we are a group of three who want to entertain people. Since dubstep is growing in Sri Lanka, we just want to take it to the next level and show Sri Lankans that this can be done in this country.