The evergreen dance movements

The evergreen dance movements you may very well know....or ( the younger generation)  may not know : Slow fox(trot), Slow rock, Quick step, Cha cha cha, Slow waltz, Quick waltz=also known as Viennese waltz, , Rumba, Tango, and last but not least....Rock n Roll !..


Those days, if bands did not have the capacity to play ALL of these beats, the chance to get bookings, was very limited...Nothing has changed here in Sydney...the elite bookings are for versatile bands...not rap, or hip hop bands..There are hundreds of DJs...offering their services at very cheap prices...and happy to just get a gig..so that they can come and give your eardrums a good whack! 




Sunaroma Niteclub...It is interesting to look back..to find that even in the mid-sixties , trendy spelling of things and places..nite instead of night, muso for musician, etc, was in practice.  Let me hurry to say we got the gig at Sunaroma.


Rhythm Knights .. our sign boards... at the top of the bandstand...were two shield shape boards (in keeping with the shield the English knights carried on horseback) beautifully hand written in calligraphic style. Sunrise mudhalali mentioned it was 'bohoma lakshanai'..and the patrons..the affluent residents of the area...thrilled to our music 3 days a week...wednesday, friday, saturday..and the talk within bands and musicians, was " how the hell did Jisty get this gig !"


Yeah, these well attired people....ladies with their elegant clothes..and the gents with their smart outfits..danced  with grace and great coordination.  These days you'd see this sort of dancing only in ballroom  dancing competitions..How they motivated the band !


 Sunaroma patrons...yeah  they did the Slow Foxtrot, the Quick Step, the Cha cha, the Slow Waltz...the Viennese waltz, the Samba, the Tango...and towards closing time we played 
Rock and Roll and these fantastic people...JIVED so splendidly...to the rocking  music...They loved it..However, they did not get on the floor when we played TWIST  music... we  simply dropped this from our repertoire...


Then, there was vivacious Charmaine with Rhythm Knights...very much sounding like Ella Fitzgerald...and she wowed the Colombo 7 folks... Mubarak Thaha's Tropicana NiteClub found itself losing quite a bit of their patrons...making their way to the more classy venue..


continued in the next blog