Oriental Dance Society

The Oriental Dance Society of Bishop's College represents the College's Oriental Culture and Aesthetic Division.

The Society, which pursues a stream of advanced artistic endeavors, is constantly committed to upholding the name of the Bishop's College by respecting the college's dignity and traditions and engaging in a variety of activities within and outside the community.

Vision of the oriental Dance society

To create a proud and honorable generation of women full of values ​​through a holistic aesthetic education that honors the aesthetic potential of bishopians.

Mission of the Oriental Dance society 

To endow the nation with a group of proud daughters who are capable of carrying out a high level of social service through skills based on school aesthetic education and cultural goals. 

පෙරදිග නර්තන සංගමයේ දැක්ම

රදගුරු දියණියන්ගේ සෞන්දර්යාත්මක විභාගයතා ඔපවත් කෙරෙන පරිපූර්ණ සෞන්දර්ය අධ්‍යාපනයක් තුළින් සාරධර්මවලින් පිරිපුන් අභිමානවත් ගෞරවනීය කාන්තා පරපුරක්.

පෙරදිග නර්තන සංගමයේ මෙහෙවර ප්‍රකාශය 

ජාතික අධ්‍යාපන පරමාර්ථයන් හි එන සෞන්දර්යාත්මක හා සංස්කෘතියක ඉලක්ක පදනම් කොටගත්,පාසල් අරමුණු මූලික කොට නිපුණතා පාදක සෞන්දර්ය අධ්‍යාපනයක් තුළින් උසස් සමාජ මෙහෙවරක යෙදිය හැකි ගුණ, නැණ, බල සපිරි අභිමානවත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ දියණිවරු පිරිසක් ජාතියට දායාද කිරිම.

Teachers In Charge and Office Bearers

Teacher’s In Charge : Mr. P. W. T. Dian 

                                              Ms. Hashini Dissanayake 

President                      : Binuli Bulathsinhala

Vice President            : Sakithma Silva

Secretary                      : Keyara Hettiarachchi

Treasurer                     : Thedasi Piyasena

 

History of the Oriental Dance Society

Although there is no definite date for the founding of the Oriental Dance Society, its origins go back a long way. The history of the Oriental Dance Society from 1945 to 2018 can be reviewed as follows,

  • A folk dance was performed at the ‘full’ meeting of the guides on February 16, 1945.
  • The junior dancers participated in an oriental dance at the celebration organized by the ‘art council’ on Independence Day.
  • With the revival of the senior Oriental Dance Society senior dancers performed at the ‘Ladies College Hall’ along with girls of Methodist College and Ladies College.
  • During this time Oriental dancing was taught by Mrs.Gnanapragasam and Mrs.Gunadasa the son of the famous kandyan dancer Nittawela Gunaya.    
  • 1969 with the beginning of the Hewisi Band Mrs.Gnanapragasam’s daughter ‘Soundarie’ and the drummer ‘Somadasa’ trained the girls in Oriental dancing.
  •  A small group of little girls from the lower school were trained to lead with their dance Offertory procession occasions in church.  These little girls were dressed in white lama-sari and scattered jasmine flowers from baskets as they danced.
  • Later in 1971 September 29th dancers performed this traditional offertory dance at a service in the quadrangle of St. Thomas College Mt.lavinia.
  • Furthermore this offertory dance was performed in 1975 and 1978 along with the Hewisi Band. 
  • In the year 2009  showcasing their talents Oriental Dance Society participated in ‘The Talent Star’ Concert organized by Ladies College and in the same year the senior members of our Society performed at the ‘සුසර ප්‍රතිභා’ Concert of Methodist College.
  • In the Colombo Zonal Competition held at Yashodhara Balika Vidyalaya, July 2010, Bishop College represented Colombo in three categories and won first place in a provincial competition. The Oriental Dance Society also won second place in the Western Province.
  • The Oriental Dance Society contributed to the ‘Blended Beats 2010’ Band Show organized by our school's Western Band.  In this same year, our society presented a concert called 'රන්ගත්‍ර’.
  • In 2010, our society members performed a dance for the Independence Day celebrations in school. In the same year, our members participated in the ‘කින්නර’ Concert organized by St. Thomas' College.
  • Before the end of 2010, ‘Duwani’ FESTIVAL OF DRUMS, the largest event was organized by our society.
  • In 2012, our dance troupe contributed to the ‘කින්නර’ Concert organized by St. Thomas' College and the ‘ප්‍රශස්ති’ concert organized by Ananda College at the ‘Nelum Pokuna’ Theater. In 2012, we also participated in the ‘Blended Beats 2012’ Concert organized by our school.
  • In 2013, the Oriental Dance Society confirmed the college's pride by performing a dance at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Germany.
  • In the year 2013, our Society contributed at the ‘කින්නර’ Concert at St. Thomas' College and the South Asian Women's Conference.
  • In 2014, we participated in the ‘කින්නර 14’ Concert of St. Thomas' College and the‘ප්‍රශස්ති’ concert organized by Ananda College, Colombo. This year we also contributed to the ‘Blended Beats’ concert organized by the Western Band.
  • The Dance Society held its second ‘Dwani’ concert in 2015 with the participation of
    students of various invited schools in January at the College Auditorium. This year our members also participated in the ‘කින්නර’ Concert organized by Thomas College and the Annual Prize Giving Ceremony and annual Swimming Competition.
  • The Oriental Dance Society was able to attend the Inter-House Swimming Competition and Annual Prize Giving Ceremony held in July 2016.
  • At the March in 2017 Assembly, the College Oriental Dance Troupe performed the ‘Avurudu Asiri’ program and participated in the opening of the inter-house swimming competition held on 28th June.
  • The dance troupe participated in the Inter-House Swimming Competition on 14th June 2018 and the Annual Prize Giving Ceremony in July

 

  • The oriental dance troupe also showcased their dance skills at the ‘රිද්ම ගතිකා’ 2018 and ‘ගාන්ධාර’ 2018 events organized by Colombo Ladies College and St. Thomas' College, colpetty respectively.
  • The teachers in charge of the Oriental Dance Society from 2009 to 2018 are as follows,Mrs.Kanchana Kumari,Mrs. Menaka Jayasuriya,Mr. Muditha Thotagamuwa,Mr.P.W.T. Dian and Mrs.Omali Rajakaruna.

Recent Events (2019-2021)

  • In the year of 2019, the Oriental Dance Society proudly presented the third chapter of Dwani, a colorful festival of divine. The project saw representation from a number of squadrons and continued with great success demonstrating great talents in 2019 as part of the long term partnership between middle and upper schools.
  • In 2020 our senior dance troupe participated in "ANADA PRATHIBHA" with the collaboration of Ananda College at BMICH. We performed the character of "Mohini", a unique dance item at this concert.
  • This opportunity supported the school in the development and production of a number of performances across the school year. It was so exciting to see the work of our school in partnership with Ananda College as it was a remarkable experience.
  • In 2021 provided us a unique experience as we were able to organize a virtual performance for our 1st monthly assembly. Even though the performance challenged us to face restrictions of COVID-19 global pandemic. We managed to overcome all obstacles as this project established the troop how to work remotely, develop timelines and target each member to join each day to work alongside with others in the specific areas of practice in order to choreograph a virtual dance.

 

These are a chance to share and mark our progress in our oriental dancing society, visible learning and experience journey.

 

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