Signature Club Service project organized by the Rotaract Clubs of University of Colombo – Faculty of Arts and Cinnamon Gardens happened on the 2nd of November 2019. The Baila Night kick started at 7pm with some light music while the crowd kept coming. The weather did not stop the crowd. It sure looked like everybody needed to dance their worries away. Dressed up in sarongs and lungis, swaying to the beat with the tempo rising. It started to get groovy, the momentum kept increasing and the energy was ecstatic. With every “Let’s hear some noise” the encore was epic, almost deafening and drowning the music.

The night was young indeed and the fun was just beginning. Time flew by at the dance floor and it was soon time for food. The dinner for the night consisted of the signature Sri Lankan dish –Vegetable and Chicken Kottu with spicy gravy. The typical EGB was served to drown the food down. The queue was quiet long, and it looked like few were back for second servings. The food was scrumptious indeed.

Well you need to get back into the dancing grove to lose all the carbs gained eh! There was a dance competition, well not the typical standoff dancing but going in all with the Sri Lanka style– Paper dancing. Well paper dancing is where a couple stands on an opened newspaper and dance away, each round the paper gets folded in half and the last couple to still be dancing will be crowned as winners. King and Queen of Baila night was chosen and were requested to perform a dance for the crowd. They did not let the crowd down with their dashing moves and kept the crowd captivated and with cheers all around!

 Finally, there was a live band which played a few classics. The live band got the crowd to sing along for a few songs before the played the Sri Lanka typical party song – Sumihiri Paane. Few other songs were mixed into it including a few tamil songs aka “Kuttu Songs” and a few hindi songs, even though it was Baila night these songs got the crowd going – nonstop dancing!

The event was a huge success and the beautiful memories are etched deep into our hearts. It was indeed a night to remember for time to come!

By Rtr. Abdul Khaliq | Email: abdlkhlq@hotmail.com