Ruslan’s Amazing Adventure, Nepal’s first international musical broadway show, is set to enchant audiences on March 5. Spearheaded by Sushila Arts Academy (SAA) Dance Company, the musical will see 25 exclusive shows at the Russian Culture Center, Kamalpokhari. The two public screenings for the show will take place on March 7, 10 and 12, with Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala gracing the first show, where she will also be giving a welcome address to the audience.

The SAA Dance Company is an elite group of dancers who are undergoing an intensive programme of training in proper dance technique, pilates strengthening, and physical theatre. Under the guidance of Alizé Biannic (Royal Ballet, UK), SAA is striving to elevate the level of dance and performance to international and professional levels never yet achieved in Nepal.

Ruslan’s Amazing Adventure

will take audiences on a journey of visual and choreographic elegance fused with a wicked sense of humour—warm and charmingly whimsical at once. The musical charts the story of Ruslan, an orphan boy who leaves the mundane in search of discovering the world unknown. Along the way, he meets beautiful creatures and characters who usher him into a world of magic, fantasy and illusion; all portrayed through dancing,

acting, and song. Accompanied with magical costumes and makeup,  a revolving stage and enchanting lights and visual effects, the show is slated to be a feast for the senses.

With the show just around the bend,  the Post caught up with Yulia Koirala, the director and founder of SAA, and Alizé Biannic, the director of the SAA Dance Company, for a chat about the groundbreaking show and the efforts that have been put in into bringing it to Kathmandu. Excerpts:

What made Sushila Arts Academy open a dance company?  

Yulia Koirala: One of the main reasons that inspired me to open a dance company was an eager desire to take and uplift the dance training available in Nepal to a higher level.

Any show—music, dance, theatre—has to be aimed towards uplifting your soul and spirit, to become one with the performers.  This is only possible when proper technical

capabilities are there.  But the people on stage, the dancers and performers, also have to be trained enough to be able to deliver that.  So to have access to such a high level of training from an accomplished artist such as Alizé Biannic, who is here in the flesh and able to correct and train you in

the proper technique, is a rare and privileged opportunity, the first of its kind in Nepal.

What does the Intensive Dance Training include?

Alizé Biannic: We are training with them every morning. We are, at the moment, working mainly on the

technique, focusing on going back to the basics and really feeling every muscle, every inch of our body, and understanding what is happening to us.  Because a lot of others out there lack in the technique. They can do nice things but they can never progress because they don’t have the base and the base is very important.

So I’ve been really pushing and working hard with the dance company trainees on really just on basic techniques as a firm foundation so that we can really bring it to that level. And then slowly increase and be able to technically go higher.

Are you working on anything besides dance?

Alizé Biannic: We’re also working on physical theatre and some basic trauma lessons so that we can work with them in character. I don’t just want to tell them to do this. I want them to go through the training to be able to create a character; for them

to understand where the character needs to come from but also for

them to experiment through the physical theatre and through the improvisation to really build

something strong that they can relate to and so that we can bring a higher quality to the show.

We’re also not training them just to become dancers because the type of show that we are creating is really more about falling into a journey with the audience.  And that requires much more than just dance. So you also need to have some acting skills and even requires a little bit of

singing.  You might not be required to do it, but it’s important to be able to be a full artist.