Chithrasena's first death anniversary falls today:

Rekindling the hope of a legendary dancer

Suharshi Perera

REMEMBERED: The old fashioned single storey building on the lane heading to the Galle Road reverberated with the traditional Sinhala drum beat. The fusion of drum beats and the sound created by rhythmic footsteps that strike against the wooden floor infuses a mysterious passion to the lifeblood of anybody advancing towards the building called the Girls Friendly Society.

At the far end of the hall, a female dancer was passionately performing a Kandyan dance and her students were behind dancing, following her footsteps. Her tall figure, long plaited black hair and well defined features perfectly harmonise with her dancing poise. The elderly woman seated on the side guided and cheered up her daughter and the students. She tapped her feet to the drum beat and her eyes were dancing.

Vajira and Upeka; the wife and the daughter of Chitrasena, were getting ready for the memorial performance of their legendary dancer father, the epitome of Sri Lankan dance theatre and dance drama who ceased to dance on July 18, 2005.

Vajira, his partner on stage and life and Upeka, his daughter, the perfect embodiment of her father's dancing passion and mother's grace took a break to speak of the beloved iconic dancer and his unfulfilled dreams.

Chitrasena undoubtedly is the father of Sinhala ballet (dance drama), who created a significant breakthrough in the traditional ritual dancing to bring it up on stage. He rejuvenated earlier ritual dance traditions like the Kohomba Kankariya, Sokari, Gammadu and Kolam through his own experimental dance dramas, says Vajira, the queen of Sri Lankan ballet.

Chitrasena was a great maestro of Indian and local dancing traditions. "Despite all his learning of Indian and other traditions, the base of the Sri Lankan dance drama is the Kandyan dance. He held local traditions in high esteem," she adds.

Chitrasena went to villages in search of authentic ritual dance traditions and later brought a dancer home to master the traditions. The life he spent as a simple villager and experience earned through extensive travelling are reflected in his creations.

"He experienced before creating. He went to the seashore and observed the life struggle of fishermen and their battle with the sea for days before creating Karadiya, his dance drama masterpiece," Upeka reminiscences.

Chitrasena's father Seebert Dias was an accountant and an ardent lover of arts. He produced Shakespeare in English and Sinhala and Chitrasena was immensely inspired by his father and his creations.

His first influence of dance drama was Tagore, who came to Sri Lanka in 1934 with his dance troupe. Tagorian Dance drama and Udaya Shankar created a huge artistic impact on Chitrasena towards initiating Sri Lankan dance drama tradition.

Dance Drama is a theatre tradition that depicts a story in dance without words and songs. However, in the Western tradition ballets include songs. Chitrasena who followed this tradition initially included one song in his ballets but later departed from that and built a unique form by narrating the whole story through gestures and movement.

"He introduced stage lighting, stage backdrops, props, curtains and costumes to dancing and converted the dance into a total theatrical experience," Vajira recalls proudly.

Chitrasena produced a number of dance dramas with masterpieces like Karadiya, Naladamayanti, Berahanda and Kolam. However, his wife Vajira is his greatest creation on stage.

"I am a pure Sri Lankan product. I never went out of the country to learn dancing. I mastered authentic Sri Lankan traditions," she says with pride.

Vajira does not perform due to a leg injury but her passion for dancing has not diminished. "Its only that I don't come up on stage, but I guide my students and compose."

He opened up the stage for women who were initially excluded in the sacred ritual art. "He bridged the gender gap on stage," Vajira - the perfect example of Chitrasena's perception of gender equality - remarks.

Chitrasena shattered caste discrimination too. Drummers who were considered to be low caste were equally treated by him. "He believed that such barriers hinder good performances," she observes.

"Father firmly believed that values and culture are the foundation of the tradition. No tradition can thrive in the absence of humility and respect for the art and the guru. That's why our culture is unique and art and culture are inseparable," Upeka commented when her students came to touch her feet to take blessings before they perform. "That was his dream.

To see the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya rebuilt as the National Dance Academy of Sri Lanka like the Shanti Niketan in India, an ashram which teaches the art as well as inculcate values. But it is yet a dream, unfulfilled due to lack of funds," she says in a serious tone.

The Chithrasena Kalayathanaya which began in 1944 was the cultural epicentre for hundreds of Sri Lankan dancers. E.P.A. Fernando, a patron and a lover of the arts who owned the building leased the property to Chitrasena for a nominal fee.

But Fernando's death resulted in the land changing ownership several times and finally it was sold and demolished along with the hopes of the students. Since then the art family conducted classes and rehearsals at over 15 locations. In 1998, then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who was also a past student of Chitrasena-Vajira gifted a piece of land to rebuild the Kalayathanaya.

"Still we could not proceed beyond a temporary structure since we have no adequate funds," Upeka laments.

"But we will not fall back. My sole ambition is to fulfil his dream by rebuilding the Kalayatanaya to save his priceless art and to pass it on to the future generation," she says.

Therefore, the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Foundation has initiated a concerted effort to raise funds to turn the late artiste's dream into reality.

The memorial performance due to be held from July 21 to 23 at the Lionel Wendt in view of his first death anniversary is sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom. An art exhibition displaying the pictures and portraits of the great artiste will also be held at the Harold Peiris Gallery.

The dancer wife, daughter, grand daughters and hundreds of students are engaged in an ambitious dance to keep the maestro's dance traditions alive.

The Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Foundation invites generous fellow citizens and ardent art lovers enthralled by the creative performance of the late colossus to lend a helping hand to fulfil his dream.