Sama Goodness Rhythm Dance Troupe represents Sri Lanka in France

Taking traditional Sri Lankan dance to the international stage, the Sama Goodness Rhythm Dance Troupe is currently participating in the Festival De Montoire, an international dance festival held across multiple regions in France.

The team left Sri Lanka on the 2nd of July and will be visiting various French cities including Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg and Orleans over a 54 day period, attending the 9 mini-festivals that together make up the Festival de Montoire. During this time, they will be representing traditional Sri Lankan dance styles while performing alongside a variety of teams from countries such as Portugal, Russia, Tibet, Borneo and Ecuador.  

Having been granted this incredible opportunity to represent specialized dance styles of Sri Lanka to an international audience, the Sama Goodness Rhythm Dance Troupe considers this experience an immense milestone for themselves.

The Sama Goodness Rhythm Dance Troupe was established as a sustainability income generation venture and off shoot of the Foundation of Goodness traditional dancing classes.

The dancing classes were introduced in 2013 as part of the FoG Arts & Multimedia Programme which provides training for youth in the Seenigama region. Many of those attending these classes are survivors of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami who turned to dance as a therapeutic means to overcome their trauma, while at the same time finding a way to use their talents to progress along a new avenue that was previously unavailable to them, in order to succeed in life and find a way to escape poverty and hardship.

This is a wonderful opportunity for rural children who have never even left their village before, to broaden their experiences through performing and interacting with elite dance teams from around the world.

The Foundation of Goodness is a non-governmental organization founded in 1999 by Mr. Kushil Gunasekera based in Seenigama, and active all across Sri Lanka, especially in the North and Moneragala regions, serving over 30,000 beneficiaries from 100+ villages by delivering humanitarian services via its 30 empowerment activity sectors, annually, free of charge.

23rd July 2015