Horizon Lanka has been staging several mini concerts during the year 2016. We organize them mainly because we can get rid of stage phobia when we perform dance items on stage before the villagers. We have staged 6 mini concerts during the year. We ensured the final and the 7th concert be a mega concert as it coincided with the birthday of one of our donors, Ms. Greta Suffys from Belgium. She has been visiting Horizon Lanka since 2002, even during the height of the Civil War that did not spare our village, Mahawilachchiya from the terrorist attacks. Ms. Greta and the family has helped Horizon Lanka since 2002. The Belgian tourists who visited us with her also contributed to Horizon Lanka.
Ms. Greta’s birthday fell on November 3 and she visited Horizon Lanka with a group of tourists from Belgium on the 4th. We arranged 17 dance items to be performed at the concert. They were,
- Welcome Dance – Sri Lankan
- Smurf Song – Belgian
- Ran Pokunen – Sri Lankan
- Kurumitto – Sri Lankan
- Boombastic – Western
- Dethata Walalu– Sri Lankan
- Barso Re – Indian
- Macarina – Spanish
- Taal Se Taal Mila – Indian
- Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny – Western
- Surangana Wes Wala – Sri Lankan
- Livin La Vida Loca – Spanish
- Lambada – Western
- Waka Waka – Western
- Gangnam Style – Korean
- Thriller – Western
- Marina – Belgian
We trained ourselves the dances for three months and performed them at this concert. I think everybody liked the dances. We got the full concert videoed by a professional video team. That cost us 60,000 LKR (400 USD.) A Pakistani documentary movie director who visited Horizon Lanka last year promised to do the editing of the full concert video free of charge. We had to spend on dancing clothes and costumes. Ms. Greta and other Belgian tourists donated a sizeable donation to cover some of the costs. We still have to pay for some of the expenses for the clothes we bought. We bought all clothes needed for the concert on loan as we wanted all dance items to be good. You can help covering the costs by donating through our crowdfunding campaign at https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/empowering-children-in-rural-sri-lanka. Those who donate 100 USD or more will be sent a full concert video by post if you send us your postal address. We know we are not professional dancers. But donating to us will help us improve our dancing skills further.
Tharushika Sujani Rathnayaka Grade 9 Horizon Lanka Academy tharushika@horizonlanka.org
