Shaking things up with ‘Dazzle-In a Singing Style’
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They like to shake things up at the Cantabile School of Singing. At rehearsals, the young singers move from a slow, rousing Evita number to the leg kicking, hip shimmying ‘Blame It On the Boogie’ with seamless ease. But don’t let appearances fool you-“we’ve all trained very hard for this,” they say.
As they prepare for their fourth show, ‘Dazzle-In a Singing Style’, the 80-strong cast looks to their instructor Prashalini Peiris for direction. Prashalini formed the school and choir 10 years ago and since then Cantabile has grown in leaps and bounds to accommodate over a hundred in its lessons. “It’s a pleasure to be working with students who started out as little ones,” she says.
“These shows are more for them and their progress-a chance for them to have some fun and bond a little amongst themselves.”
It’ll be an intensely musical kind of bonding, for with this show the Junior, Intermediate and Senior choirs will tackle their widest range yet. A heady palate of genres and medleys including semi classical, Broadway, pop, jazz, rock and acapella arrangements can be sampled from, while artists such as Freddy Mercury, Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams, Boyzone, Taio Cruz, Bruno Mars, Whitney Houston, FUN, LMFAO and numbers from Frozen, Pitch Perfect, GLEE, American Idol and songs from famous musicals such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Evita’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ will also feature over the duration.
Prashalini Peiris
Little Gayen Peiris looks forward to the Disney medley the most, simply because even before rehearsals began he knew every song by heart.
Atara Isaac has been singing with Cantabile for just over a year and says she looks forward to the show. “Singing makes me happy, so I love it,” she adds..
As intermediates both Anushi Wilson and Yelani Dias have been with Cantabile for quite some time. “It’s a time of fellowship,” Yelani says of their long hours of rehearsal. “We meet each other, sing and have a great time while doing what we love.”
This year’s show promises to have more diversity than the former shows, we’re told. “I actually joined because I loved the music we’ll be singing for this show,” she adds. “I was pretty busy with school and other extra-curriculars but when I heard the playlist-we were going to be singing Party Rock Anthem-I knew I had to do this show!”
Anushi agrees-“we’re singing some pretty great music.” “This show is a big deal for us, so I think the hours behind it are going to be worth it for the audience.”
Keshia Kumaresan.
Ashanthi Kolambage Pix by Susantha Liyanawatte
Stefan Stainwall has been singing since he was 13, and was choir leader in school and recently won a scholarship to England to study music at a special programme. “The choir is a mix of different characters and personalities,” he says. “So when we come together on stage to sing it’s pretty interesting to watch.” Ranusha Mutucumarana, who plays the organ and guitar in addition to her singing agrees. “The cast is amazing!” The Intermediate and Senior students will be choreographed by Ashanti Colombage while the Juniors will be choreographed by Keshia Kumarsen. The Asteria female choir directed by Mahen Peiris will also take the stage for a guest performance.
Dazzle-in a Singing Style takes place September 27 from 7pm onwards at the Bishop’s College Auditorium. For Box Plan and Tickets priced at Rs.1500/-, Rs.1000/-, Rs.750/-, Rs.500/- (Reserved) & Rs.350/- (Balcony). Contact Prashalini on 0722 837171. Tickets will also be available at the venue. The official Print Media Sponsors of the show are The Sunday Times, The Daily Mirror, The Daily FT, Life Online and Times Online. Electronic media sponsor is REAL Radio. Location of photo shoot – The Mount Lavinia Hotel.