- Telling stories through dance
Next weekend (19 and 20 August) will see the DANCEWORLD School of Modern, Jazz, Contemporary and Ballet take to the stage for the first time since 2019 with Jazzin’ 22: United in Dance – a celebratory performance by the talent of the DANCEWORLD School (DWS) that tells a story of acceptance and empowerment.
Jazzin’ 22 is more than simply a dance performance. Encompassing young dancers from ages seven to 25, it is the telling of several stories of self-love, mental and emotional wellness, self-acceptance, and empowerment. Jazzin’ 22 also marks the first time since 2019 that DWS students will take to the stage, with their otherwise annual performances being disrupted by the pandemic.
To learn more about DWS and Jazzin’ 22, The Sunday Morning Brunch reached out to DWS Artistic Director and Founding Partner Sureka Gunawardena Buell. Trained in classical ballet for over 25 years, Sureka first created DWS – an exclusively performance-based school – in 2005 to inspire young dancers to think of movement innovatively and explore and experiment with rhythm, musicality, and improvisation.
As the school’s Artistic Director and Member of the International Dance Council (CID) under the UNESCO and the United Nations of Dance, it is her greatest satisfaction to share her passion by offering all students the best possible quality and well-rounded dance training in Sri Lanka and internationally.
The DWS story
DWS offers classes to dancers of a variety of ages, creating movements and steps through a range of styles from jazz, modern, contemporary, and ballet. Students at DWS train throughout the year, performing in many genres of music and pushing through boundaries of progressions while maintaining strict discipline within the principles of dance and expression.
The ultimate goal of DWS is to instil in each dancer a sense of self-confidence, discipline, and commitment – lessons which carry well outside the studio into all areas of life and career.
“Dance is a way of expressing themselves,” Sureka explained. “It’s not only about learning dance; it’s about discipline, respect for others, etiquette, commitment, time management – all the skills that come into a show of this magnitude.”
From the very first class to their final performance on stage, every dancer is equipped with these life lessons that carry a profound message of strength, teamwork, and dedication.
Under the dedicated instruction of Sureka and a diverse team of talented teachers, every student continues to grow each year in all forms of dance, extended further to train in african jazz, street jazz, and lyrical jazz, while excelling in their ability to outperform themselves with every recital and showcase.
“Our school is small because we believe in quality more than quantity. It initially began as a hobby and over the years it became a business. It is the only Western Dance school to be invited to perform at Disneyland’s Dance Excellence, a festival of dance held each year at Disneyland, where they invite schools from the US and all over the world to perform,” Sureka shared, adding that all five dancers who represented DWS in 2019 had received top awards from the judges after performing a fusion of traditional Sri Lankan dance, bharatanatyam, jazz, and modern dance.
Jazzin’ 22
DWS’s upcoming performance, their first local one since 2019, has been curated and choreographed to foster strength and acceptance, starting with its opening number ‘This Is Me’ from the film ‘The Greatest Showman’.
“The song is about being brave and strong and about believing you’re enough,” Sureka explained, adding that this message ran through the core of Jazzin’ 22 and was something she really wanted to convey given the events of the last few years and how difficult it had been for students academically. Jazzin’ 22 will cover a gamut of genres from classical dance to hip hop, jazz, modern, and contemporary dance.
The story of self-acceptance within Jazzin’ 22 is also something Sureka finds particularly relevant because of the issues young girls face in school (for the moment, DWS’s studentship is exclusively female), especially with things like bullying.
Working with her Assistant Choreographer and Rehearsal Director Shyomie Kulatunga, Sureka has meticulously curated a setlist and painstakingly choreographed each individual performance to form part of a larger story.
Speaking to Shyomie, we learnt that the choreography of each smaller performance had been carefully thought out based on the music it was set to and the story it was trying to tell.
“We’ve chosen music that tells a story and used it to do a completely different interpretation through dance and convey the lyrics through choreography,” Shyomie said, adding: “It’s all about being strong, knowing who you are, being confident in yourself, and knowing that through all the hardships from Covid to the crisis, you are doing your best and that you should be proud of yourself.”
From a choreographic and practical rehearsal perspective, Shyomie also explained that a lot of thought had gone into how rehearsals happened, with special care taken to not tire or overwhelm the youngest dancers, as well as to create movements that were easy for each dancer to create.
Dance as a medium of storytelling and sense of self
With Jazzin’ 22 having such a great deal of thought put into it, our minds were piqued by the concept of dance as a storytelling medium and we asked Sureka and Shyomie how they see dance as a medium and how dance helps dancers grow off the stage.
“The most magical thing about dance and telling stories through dance is the satisfaction of being able to express feelings through movement,” Sureka said. “As a performer and also as a teacher and owner of DWS, it is always magical to see my dancers take the stage, creating emotion through movement, making it their own and not having to compare themselves with anyone other than themselves. They carry this confidence and skill through their lives and I hope they will still be dancing when they’re fifty. For me, the creativity of the art form of dance is what makes it most satisfying.”
Sureka also shared that above all, it was the accomplishment of being able to create such a platform that made the DWS’s performances so memorable for her, especially considering its journey over the years.
For Shyomie, the versatility of dance and its ability to convey and deal with emotions through movement had been what made it such a great storytelling medium. “If I’m angry, I can get that emotion out through dance and different forms of dance (and music) can make you feel differently. If I’m feeling strong and confident, I tend to use jazz, for example.”
Shyomie also said that the engagement with the music you were dancing to also added to your power to convey emotions and tell stories, to shift your movements around a song, and use that movement to tell the stories of the song or how it made you feel.
“Dance can do so much for anyone, from being a relaxer or release, to a distraction from things going on around you to helping improve your confidence,” Shyomie shared. “The second you train and are consistent, your confidence improves so much, on and off stage. Dance really serves as a means of strengthening yourself.”
Info box
Jazzin’ 22: United in Dance by the DANCEWORLD School of Modern, Jazz, Contemporary and Ballet takes place on 19 and 20 August at 7 p.m. at the Lionel Wendt. Box plan and tickets are available at the Lionel Wendt.