58 min
Off Season Chats - Thaji Dias on Family Legacy & Sustainability Off the Beat Dance Podcast
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- Performing Arts
In the fifth episode of Off Season Chats, Ameya & Kiran chat with Colombo-based Kandyan dance teacher, performer, & principal dancer at the world-renowned Chitrasena School of Dance Thaji Dias. She reflects on her artistic journey, upholding a multigenerational family legacy, and how the pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic struggles are impacting artists.
Off Season Chats is a new series in which we have intimate conversations with dancers who are forging new paths in their artistic, personal, and professional lives. Our special guests are accomplished artists whose works span across many genres of South Asian dance including: Kathak, Kandyan, Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Manipuri, Odissi, and much more.
About Thaji Dias:
Thaji Dias is the youngest granddaughter of Chitrasena and Vajira, the illustrious dance duo of Sri Lanka, and the Principal Dancer of Chitrasena Dance Company, which is Sri Lanka’s oldest and most prestigious dance company. The company was established in the 1940s by Guru Chitrasena, who was instrumental in bringing Sri Lanka’s traditional dances from village rituals to the modern stage. Thaji has been a full-time professional dancer and teacher at the Company since May 2012.
Introduced to Kandyan dance under her grandmother nearly 25 years ago, she began touring with the dance company at age 12 alongside her aunt and Guru Upeka Chitrasena in an international festival in Paris at the Theatre Du Soleil as a guest of Ariane Mnouchkine. Since then, Thaji has toured Taipei (2004), Montpellier, France (2005), New York, USA (2011), Singapore (2012), and India on several occasions.
She also represented the company in their first international collaboration Samhara, with the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble of India. The performance toured the US, including the prestigious Joyce Theater and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many parts of India including Music Academy (Chennai) and Konark Festival (Odisha) in 2012, 2013, and 2018.
Instagram: @dancethaji
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thaji.dias
Dive Deeper:
Resistance in Dance: Thaji Dias. Why I Dance: The Chitrasena LegacyNrityagram and ChitrasenaThe Chitrasena legacy: Inspiring story at the Design FestivalPandal-making
Today’s episode of Off Season Chats would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of our amazing listeners and the following people:
We Edit Podcasts for audio engineeringSangeetha Kowsik for graphic design of our logoWesley Beeks & Bertel King, Jr.
Liked what you heard? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and other streaming services, subscribe to the podcast, and tell your friends about us so that more people can find this show! You can also join our conversation by following us on social media at @offthebeatdance on IG, FB, Twitter, and Tik Tok or by visiting us at www.offthebeat.dance. We’d love to hear from you.
Off the Beat is a passion project, and we really need your help to make this podcast a long-term and sustainable venture. Please consider supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/offthebeatdance so that we can continue to bring you more content. And together, we can create a new...
In the fifth episode of Off Season Chats, Ameya & Kiran chat with Colombo-based Kandyan dance teacher, performer, & principal dancer at the world-renowned Chitrasena School of Dance Thaji Dias. She reflects on her artistic journey, upholding a multigenerational family legacy, and how the pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic struggles are impacting artists.
Off Season Chats is a new series in which we have intimate conversations with dancers who are forging new paths in their artistic, personal, and professional lives. Our special guests are accomplished artists whose works span across many genres of South Asian dance including: Kathak, Kandyan, Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Manipuri, Odissi, and much more.
About Thaji Dias:
Thaji Dias is the youngest granddaughter of Chitrasena and Vajira, the illustrious dance duo of Sri Lanka, and the Principal Dancer of Chitrasena Dance Company, which is Sri Lanka’s oldest and most prestigious dance company. The company was established in the 1940s by Guru Chitrasena, who was instrumental in bringing Sri Lanka’s traditional dances from village rituals to the modern stage. Thaji has been a full-time professional dancer and teacher at the Company since May 2012.
Introduced to Kandyan dance under her grandmother nearly 25 years ago, she began touring with the dance company at age 12 alongside her aunt and Guru Upeka Chitrasena in an international festival in Paris at the Theatre Du Soleil as a guest of Ariane Mnouchkine. Since then, Thaji has toured Taipei (2004), Montpellier, France (2005), New York, USA (2011), Singapore (2012), and India on several occasions.
She also represented the company in their first international collaboration Samhara, with the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble of India. The performance toured the US, including the prestigious Joyce Theater and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many parts of India including Music Academy (Chennai) and Konark Festival (Odisha) in 2012, 2013, and 2018.
Instagram: @dancethaji
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thaji.dias
Dive Deeper:
Resistance in Dance: Thaji Dias. Why I Dance: The Chitrasena LegacyNrityagram and ChitrasenaThe Chitrasena legacy: Inspiring story at the Design FestivalPandal-making
Today’s episode of Off Season Chats would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of our amazing listeners and the following people:
We Edit Podcasts for audio engineeringSangeetha Kowsik for graphic design of our logoWesley Beeks & Bertel King, Jr.
Liked what you heard? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and other streaming services, subscribe to the podcast, and tell your friends about us so that more people can find this show! You can also join our conversation by following us on social media at @offthebeatdance on IG, FB, Twitter, and Tik Tok or by visiting us at www.offthebeat.dance. We’d love to hear from you.
Off the Beat is a passion project, and we really need your help to make this podcast a long-term and sustainable venture. Please consider supporting us on Patreon at patreon.com/offthebeatdance so that we can continue to bring you more content. And together, we can create a new...
58 min