A passion that began with a little toy drum
View(s):The 11 million rupees Arun Abeyagunawardena pledged to the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Company last month is a sequel to a toy Kandyan drum Chitrasena gave him when he left for Australia with his parents 50 years ago.
“I must have heard Kandyan drum rhythms when I was in my mother’s womb,” says Arun. “My passion for the Kandyan dance and music has persisted unabated for half a century.”
To Vajira with love: Arun Abeyagunawardena makes a donation to the CV Dance Company watched by family members
Arun’s mother, Annapurni, learnt Kandyan dancing from Vajira, attending classes even during early weeks of pregnancy.
Arun now heads a large Sydney-based wealth management company with links in several European countries and the USA. He has written several books and numerous articles on money and happiness. But he finds time to beat rhythms on a gurunanse’s Kandyan drum presented to him by Chitrasena’s guru, Lapaya.
Lapaya was a member of a company of 16 dancers and musicians, headed by Chitrasena, which toured Australia in 1964 under the auspices of the Festival of Perth, the Australian Theatre Trust and the Ceylon Tea Board. Arun recalls going round the Sydney central business district with his father at midnight carrying a bucket of flour paste to plaster whatever suitable space was available with posters advertising the Chitrasena-Vajira Company’s shows. During a repeat tour in 1972 the Chitrasena-Vajira Dance Company danced at the Festivals of Perth, of Adelaide and of Auckland.
Arun’s father, Samson Abeyagunawardena, was Director of Public Information at the Ceylon Tea Board’s Sydney-based head office for Australia and New Zealand from 1962 to 1972. After striving for 18 months, the Abey family persuaded entrepreneurs to invite the Chitrasena-Vajira Company to Australia. The problem was that Australian show business people knew little about the Kandyan dance. They would ask: “Do Kandyan dancers twirl on their toes like Western ballet dancers?” One evening, after entertaining directors of the Australian Theatre Trust at dinner, Annapurni changed into her dance costume and demonstrated some of the Kandyan dance steps to the guests while Arun beat a rhythm on his little drum. That worked.
“Passion works wonders,” says Arun, who confides he has two regrets. His mother passed away 16 years ago. “She would have been in seventh heaven watching what our family is doing now to help the Chitrasena-Vajira Foundation.” His other regret is that Thaji, the brilliant principal dancer of the Chitrasena-Vajira company does not dance often enough in Sri Lanka. He was on a business visit to London some years ago when he heard that Thaji was dancing at Montpelllier, in France, and flew there to see her dance.”It was worth the expense and effort,” he says, and adds, “the CV company needs to present many more shows in Colombo and in the other large cities, such as Galle, Matara, Kandy, Kurunegala and Jaffna. Ultimately, whether the Kandyan and Ruhuna dances as stage theatre pioneered by Chitrasena and Vajira continue to flourish depends upon them having large audiences of Sri Lankans who appreciate and patronise their arts.”