Published on : Friday, October 11, 2013
Members of the Indian community living in Seychelles, and young dancers from the Seychelles National Conservatoire of Performing Arts met at the International Conference Centre of Seychelles for the first ever lungi classes held in the country.
It is believed the dance is named after the Lungi garment worn by males in South India, who raise the long skirt above their knees when they dance.
In order to introduce the Seychellois to this dance, Terence Lewis, a top Indian choreographer, who has had a hand in producing dances for countless Bollywood movies held a workshop in the country. Mr Lewis took those who attended the class from a warm-up to slowly performing the dance moves, without the youngsters even realising that they were actually picking up the rudimentary steps of the Lungi dance.
The introduction to the Lungi dance is among a series of activities held in Seychelles recently to mark the first Seychelles-India Day Celebrations. The event provided for an activity-packed weekend between the two Indian Ocean countries.
As the whole idea of the festivities was to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries, Mr Lewis was also able to pick up a few Creole words on his visit to Seychelles; which he used to describe his experience there. “Tre zoli, tre bon, (very beautiful and very good)” he said.
Mr Lewis also explained that nothing bridges cultures better than art, which is why he would love the opportunity to work more with Seychellois dancers in future.
“Contemporary dance has that scope of bringing people together. Everybody in the world should dance because dance is A B C D. So anybody can dance. You in Seychelles have wonderful dance talents. I have been surprised by the talents from the National Conservatoire of Performing Arts. I would like to explore the Seychelles cultures in general and see what mixed cultures bring about. I would like also to discover indigenous dances and dancers of Seychelles. I would like to come back with other Indian dancers for a common production with the National Conservatoire of Performing Arts” said Mr Lewis.
Terence Lewis concluded that he has very much enjoyed the “spectacular and breathtaking colour of the sea in Seychelles which is different from elsewhere, and most importantly the permanent smile of the Seychellois people”.
Those who had taken part in the workshop were then able to show-off their new skills in the gala held at Freedom Square on Sunday evening, they all joined Mr Lewis on stage during the spectacular event.
Source:- Tourism Seychelles
Tags: Seychelles, Terence Lewis
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