Orribel Trust Cultural Show; an excellent one :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

'Long Time Ago In Bethlehem'- Choir

Friday 7^th of December 2012 was definitely a special day for everyone who were present at the Methodist Memorial Church, situated in Moors Road, Wellawatte, as it was the Cultural Show of the students  of Orribel Trust,a school for children with special needs. The show was held in order to commemorate the schools’ 1^st year anniversary.

The theme of the show was “We Can do”, and the students DID prove that they can do and stand out extra special.

The Arabian Dance

The Chief guest for the evening was Mrs. Penny Jayawardhene, and the proceedings began with the lighting of the Lamp. The Chief guest was welcomed by Miss.Rizana, a student of the school, who also lit the lamp on behalf of the students.

Following this,3 students came on stage to welcome the audience in 3 languages, and next was the welcome dance by 2 female students, who performed a Bharatha natyam remembering the tough steps perfectly and impressed everyone.

The Show had varieties of performances, like dance for songs of different languages and styles, like “Nila Kaigiradhu’, ‘Punchi Babala’, ‘Tak gaanawa tik gaanwa’, ‘paayana ira’ & ‘The Finger song’, songs which most of us would have heard since our childhood.

'Tak gaanawa'- Sinhala Song

And other songs which had different themes, like ‘Kaalai Padai’ which was about the Army & Airforce, ‘Baby by Justin Bieber’, whick rocked the floor and it was amazing to see the kids dance, rap and some even do DJ actions to the song. And then ‘Fishermen folks’ which was regarding the fishing community.

'Fisherman Folks'

And 3 special eye-catching performances of the day, ‘The Work Out’ dance, which was similar to a drill display (The kids did the actions beautifully), ‘Snake Dance’ & ‘Arabian Dance’.

The Teachers also showed their dancing talents through the Teachers Dance, anyone would have easily guessed  after seeing this how the students performed so well.

This was followed by the Choir ‘Long time in Bethlehem’ which showed the story of Christmas.

Teachers' Dance

However, the specialty in all these performances was that the theme of the particular item/ performance was portrayed very well, and costumes were selected accordingly (here the own costumes of the students were mixed and matched, hence a very low cost had been spent by the parents for the costumes), and each and everything and everyone had been given special attention in order to make the performance perfect.

The show also had 3 other performances where three students Ifshan, Naflia & Ram described about ‘Myself’, ‘My School’ & ‘My Mother’ respectively.

Work out Dance

The students were very brave enough to act on stage, while most of us usually forget what we have to do and get tensed when we get on to the stage and see lights and audience, those barriers were nothing to these lovely kids, they were completely at ease with the Stage, Lights & Audience.

Dr.Latiff giving the speech of gratitude on behalf of Parents

Next in the Show were speeches of gratitude by Dr.Latiff & Mrs.Nisha on behalf of parents, and Mrs. Yashoda on behalf of the school.

Special thanks were given to the Teachers: Sudharshini, Priya, Udeni, Krishanthi & Maheshi for training the students in a very short period of time, Gayathri for Make-Up & Costumes, Suman & Sudha for Sounds  and Video, Rev.Jacob for the church and all others who helped including the Sponsors.

All their efforts together to bring the hidden talents of these kids made the evening successful and memorable in everyone’s hearts.

Kudos all of you….

And oh, I forgot to mention the decorations, awed, got all of us in to the festive mode with wreaths, X-mas trees & Snow man, plus last but not the least, Santa’s surprise visit to the kids.

And the show ended with the audience standing together with the students to sing the choir ‘We are one of you’ to show that they are indeed one of us, after all, we are all human beings,not any other more or lesser than that.

Anyhow the entire show was filled with Joy, Cheerfulness, Warmth and kept the audience and the student themselves well entertained.

Even few days after the show I realized how much the training for the show has influenced the students, after seeing my own little brother, a student of the school, dance and sing with the lyrics and steps for almost all the items performed, since the attendance to this school we kept seeing great improvements in my brother in a very short period.

‘If there is a will there is a way’, I wonder whether this mixed with love, affection & care is the secret formula used by the teachers to these students.

Orribel Trust & Its Teachers deserve something more than just appreciations, Kudos!!!!

(If anyone wishes to donate for the school, you may contact Priya- 0770780399)