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The Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation created scholarship programs to support promising dancers across the island who are passionate about pursuing a career in traditional dance and becoming professional artists, teachers, and cultural ambassadors to the world. Supporting artistic talent and excellence has become more of a dire necessity with the commercialization of our dances, the popularization of competitions through the media, and the vulgarization of school and tourist performances, to show an alternative path for aspiring students. We believe the fulfillment of this objective would contribute to an ecosystem that can influence the post war development in our country in a very meaningful way. If a country is looking to attract tourism, what better way than to create opportunities to present the true potential of experiencing one of the oldest and richest cultural heritages of the world. CVDF has been investing in the creation and preservation of artistes through three scholarship programs - “Art of Dance”, “Gift of Dance” and “Preserve the Dance”.

CVDF’s vision for the next 3 years is to also create a space to preserve, innovate, and promote the ‘Art of Chitrasena’ to the world. To achieve this vision, we believe in the need for creating a go-to space in the heart of the capital, which would help not only to sustain this highly developed movement language of a people, but also to make accessible Sri Lanka’s dance theatre history to its people and the world. With the completion of the construction of the Guru Gedara, the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation will work on several initiatives that would provide a steppingstone towards creating a cultural ashram again, a haven for artists and arts enthusiasts to experience Sri Lankan Dance Theatre and its history in the most immersive way. Eventually we envision the “Kalayathanaya” to be the ‘go-to place’ in Colombo where historical material and a living dance heritage will converge to make an unforgettable impression in the hearts of the people who visit. This holistic space will house compiled and documented archives showcasing the journey of Sri Lankan Dance Theatre along with its allied arts, which should be a significant narrative of Sri Lanka’s cultural history.

CVDF probably has the largest private collection of dance theatre history currently in its possession. With the Archival Project, we will systematically collect, record and preserve the wealth of historical material of the Chitrasena Vajira Dance Foundation and the allied arts and artists that supported the 80 years of Sri Lankan dance theatre and share it with a wider audience. All materials from the Foundation, family, friends, gurus and other stakeholders will be gathered, comprehensively catalogued and digitized. The borrowed material will be returned and material from the remaining collection that needs special attending will be preserved or conserved with professional support and stored in a suitable space. New audio-visual material will be created to capture undocumented oral histories and the journey of dance theatre. The complete process will follow archival standards and procedures that would generate maximum knowledge with minimum damage to materials.

This coffee-table sized publication seeks to account for the contribution made by the acclaimed traditional dancer Chitrasena to Kandyan dance on stage, while exploring his influences and collaborations. Chitrasena (1921-2005) offers a useful viewpoint to examine a critical period in Sri Lanka’s post-independence history, particularly that of traditional dance, allowing us to better understand our present. As Sri Lanka will soon mark 80 years of independence the book will provide an opportunity to find more inclusive ways of thinking about our history and culture. It will also engage a wider public, especially a younger audience. Chitrasena remains a dominant cultural figure within the arts field, but his legacy is misunderstood and understated. This publication seeks to re-examine and reassess his work, particularly his productions, and the nature of collaboration in crafting the different aspects of production, such as working with Amaradeva on the music for mudra natya like Karadiya.

The book about Vajira aims to capture Vajira’s spirit and story through a number of different materials - things written about her and her work, interviews with close family members, and interviews with Vajira herself. Through the exploration of her life as a dance student, Chitrasena’s chief collaborator, Sri lanka’s foremost ballerina, a mother and a teacher, the book aims to uncover the better and lesser known aspects of Vajira’s unique legacy alike.