Vajira’s birth anniversary on March 15

Indomitable dancer who dominated Sri Lankan theatre

Ranga CHANDRARATHNE

Being the second female artiste in the Kandyan tradition of dancing, she developed the feminine characteristic and form that set precedence to be followed by many aspiring female artistes in the subsequent generations.

Perhaps, the greatest contribution that Vajira made is the setting up of the academy which nourished not only the dwindling traditions of the modern stage but also produced almost all the leading artistes in the sphere including her daughter Upekha.

The long list includes Channa, Khema and Ravibandu.

Vijira is always remarkable for her professionalism, elegance and talent in dancing and her innate ability which is peerless in the arena of dancing in Sri Lanka.

Experimenting with diverse traditions and assimilation of modern techniques into Sri Lankan traditional dancing is one of the salient characters of her long years of practice.

She together with her legendary husband Chithrasena created a tradition unique to Sri Lanka and was fortunate to accompany him in masterpieces in theatre such as Nala Damayanthi and Karadiya ballet.

As she celebrates her birthday, Vajira could look back with justifiable pride her singular contribution made to the field of dancing in Sri Lanka and the generation of artistes she and her husband nurtured who by now have taken the batten from them.

She belonged to a generation of cultural revivalists in the post independence Sri Lanka.

A significant aspect of that generation was that these artistes were bilinguals who were conversant with many traditions and were influenced by world literature and art.

Their world view was as broad as it could have been.

Speaking on Vijira, Ravibandu Vidyapathy states, “She is the greatest female dancer in Sri Lanka who had dedicated her entire life to the craft.

As an accomplished dancer, she exploited the feminine aspects of Kandyan dance. Her unique tradition set a precedence which is readily followed by leading female dancers in Sri Lanka such as Upekha and Khema.

She is best remembered for formulating a comprehensive syllabus which is still taught at Chithrasena - Vajira Dance Academy and followed by subsequent generations.

We are fortunate to learn under the tutelage of a dancer in the calibre of Vajira. I wish her long life.”

She can be considered as the first professional female dancer and the best female dancer who exploited the feminine aspect of Kandyan dance on stage.

Earlier Kandyan dance was an exclusive realm for males until the entry of Vajira. Vajira is credited with creating the procedure and methodology in creating a fully-fledged dancer and also formulating a comprehensive syllabus for dancing.

A little known fact is that Vajira devised a grammar in choreography through her creations such as Gajaga Vannama, Karadiya and Nala Damayanthi and in other ballets such as Kinkini Kolama and Chandali.

Gajaga Vannama which she created has been a prototype for staging Gajaga Vannama on modern stage.

She is also the pioneer dancer who created a children’s ballet tradition in Sri Lanka since 1950s.

She also devised a special choreography for children’s ballet. Vajira is the only dancer who excelled in the four areas. Vajira’s innate ability to create movements on stage out of tradition is remarkable.