Piecing together a colourful life

She needs no introduction. Hundreds have passed through her disciplined and firm mould while many have seen her on the fashion pages in her signature silk or Manipuri saree, huge pottu and bright flowers in her hair.

However, an elegant coffee table book, lovingly put together by her many students, peers and loved ones and launched on November 11, is a no-holds-barred revelation on her life, teachings, tantrums, loves, five marriages to four men et al. The book, ‘Oosha – A Life of Dance in Sri Lanka’, interspersed with images of yellowed paper clippings, pages of photographs and colourful programmes of yesteryear, fills in all the tiny details most might not know about Oosha Saravanamuttu nee de Livera.

It unravels the enigma and also focuses on the many facets of Oosha – who turned 75 in October – to those who have heard of her and seen her at a distance and marvelled at her talent in ballet, music, acrobatics and mime, and wondered what makes her what she is today. Through the pages of the glossy publication Oosha, the dancer, teacher, choreographer and mother and wife comes to life. Nuggets of information reveal what influences have guided her.

From a lonely little girl without any siblings, whose parents “danced to a different drum, led their own lives”, and who developed a love for dogs she fosters even today – she has eight in her home – to the astuteness of grandmother Louisa Seneviratne de Livera who not only “spotted the rhythm in her little body” when she was a tiny-tot of two-and-a-half years and enrolled her in ballet classes, which set her on her lifelong passion.

The clippings, lovingly collected in a scrap book first by her grandmother and then by her daughter Kumudhini follow her path from prodigy stardom at seven, being dubbed the Shirley Temple of Ceylon, through to being considered one of the best ballerinas of her time who “danced her way into the hearts of her audience”, a “natural”.

The humble beginnings of the Oosha Garten Ballet School, reported to be the oldest ballet school in Sri Lanka, with just five students in her drawing room without even a mirror or barre and Oosha’s perseverance that has seen its growth to accommodate hundreds in a well-equipped studio, putting on 25 shows, are obvious through the meticulous record.

Author Manique Gunesekera who aptly describes her as “…..exuberant, passionate, warm, temperamental, creative, impatient, dramatic, dynamic and chic. She is the Renaissance woman of performing arts in Sri Lanka”, does not, however, hesitate to frankly lay bare her weaknesses…… “The prima donna quality in Oosha is what causes her students to mutiny while acknowledging her greatness as a teacher……..She is very egoistic and acknowledges her extreme sensitivity, but it is hard for her devotees to constantly dance to her tune: it is too demanding for them.”

Little pointers though indicate her concern for her students …… “But if a student is consistently absent, Oosha goes to her/his home to find out why”, and also her special bond with them…. “Each lead dancer receives a card and a bouquet from Oosha the teacher and director of the show, with a special message just for that particular dancer.”

And her shows have always been a fusion not only of east and west and old and new, with Oosha’s (she calls herself ‘completely made in Sri Lanka’) career in dance symbolizing the sociopolitical changes of Sri Lanka.

Oosha’s brutal honesty even about her personal life is only too evident in her remarks to the author…… “Many people have been in love with me, and I have been in love with them. And I have had many lovers, but I didn’t marry all of them.”

But she did marry at the tender age of 18, Sepala Goonetilleke “because she was young and in love”, becoming a divorcee at 21 with one son, Rohan (now deceased) “because conventional married life did not suit her”. Then she married Dr. Bhaskaran Saravanamuttu “because she loved him passionately” with whom she had two children, Kumudhini and Thamby (Paikiasothy), but later married S. Ganeshan “because he was a father figure”. After his death, she remarried Bhaskaran “because she was still in love with him” and finally when widowed marrying Mohan Wijeyesinghe with whom she lives now “because he was cultured and refined”.

The rebel in her comes out when she says, “The ballet school is my livelihood. My husbands never paid me alimony.”
Her domestic priorities in her own words are “children, dogs and husbands”.

What of Oosha’s success in taking her obsession with dance to its highest pinnacle?

Oosha’s description of herself says it all: “It’s not my damned brilliance. I’m vain but I believe in God. I’m very fortunate………..I dance by the grace of God.”

‘Oosha – A Life of Dance in Sri Lanka’ priced at Rs. 4, 200 is available at the Barefoot Bookshop, Odel and Paradise Road.