She set the trend in dancing among Sri Lankan women. At a time when only the men danced the traditional Sri Lankan dance, Vajira broke the tradition. However, it was on the idea of her guru Chitrasena, who paved the way for women to dance.

This legendary dancing diva who brought fame to the country just turned 75. She still looked graceful and slender, like the picture of her in her debut performance that adorns the wall of her daughter’s home.

Vajira’s first public performance was at Pageant of Lanka in 1948. Her costume had to be especially made. Her head dress, armlets and the special costume were all designed by Somabandu, who was a student of Chitrasena. The first costume she wore is now considered the traditional costume for women Kandyan dancers.

From there onwards it was Chandali, a story that evolved around Tagore talking about the caste system, Nala Damayanthi and Karadiya, both of which had been highly acclaimed in Australia and New Zealand. The year 1952 saw Vajira’s first production, Kumudini, a children’s play. “The play is about the flower that blooms in the night and a little dialogue between the sun and the moon”, Vajira said. The songs for Kumudini were composed by Ananda Samarakoon while the music was produced by Amaradeva.

Vajira’s mother was a school teacher and encouraged the children to take up the arts. Chitrasena was also instrumental in convincing Vajira’s parents to allow her to take up dancing as a career.

“During the 1940s there was an awakening of our culture. Until then we were greatly influenced by the western culture. It was a time when no one paid any attention to our culture”, Vajira recalled.

When writing about Vajira it is impossible not to mention Chitrasena, who passed away in July 2005, since it was their partnership that changed the tradition of dancing in the country. Vajira said that it was Chitrasena who initiated this revival of our arts and believed that women should dance professionally.

So Vajira infused that femininity to Kandyan dancing. “I danced everyday from the time I started at Chitrasena Kalayathanaya, so the dance was getting into my system. The lasya (feminine) style came out of me”.

Over the years Vajira developed these techniques and new style. She married her guru Chitrasena in 1950 and continued to dance even during the earlyu stage of her pregnancy.

From 1948 to 1998 Vajira was on the stage, performing at acclaimed theatres across the world.

Despite their great contribution towards the development of Sri Lankan arts and culture in the country they had to move from place to place shifting their school since they did not have a permanent place. When their Colpetty house was taken over by the government in 1982 Chitrasena moved to Mahara while Vajira stayed on in Colombo at her children’s houses attending to the dancing school. According to Vajira the surrounding environment of the Mahara house was not suitable for living since it faced a rubber factory and the air and water were contaminated.

Vajira said that their long felt need for permanent premises was realised when former president Chandrika Kumaratunga donated a piece of land to the Chitrasena Kalayathanaya. Finally their dream has been fulfilled. The Chitrasena Kalayathanaya is now nearing completion at Elvitigala Mawatha and at present there are 150 students.

The school has preserved the national dance and arts of Sri Lanka. Together Chitrasena and Vajira have produced generations of dancers including their own children. At a time when TV stations are full of gyrating young teenagers to Bollywood tunes without finesse, they kept the tradition of dancing for more than 65 years in its authentic form and continue to do so.

Their children Upeka, Anjalika and Anudhaththa have all been dancers and now their grandchildren have taken over. Heshma attends to much of the administration of the school and Anjalika has started to teach very young children aged 5 to 7 years using techniques that would interest this age group. Vajira said that even Upeka’s husband finds time to chip in with the publicity work.

Some of their latest productions were Barefoot in Motion in 2003, Art of Chitrasena in 2006 and Kuumbi Kathawa planned for this year.