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Temple Dancer emerges after 23 years of dance!

By Hemamala Wickramage

Having taught and entered pupils for dancing exams for the last 23 years, for Deanna Jayasuriya teaching dancing is not just a job - but a dream come true.

With her latest production - cast includes 80% of her senior students - The Temple Dancer just around the corner she spoke to The Sunday Leader of her acclaimed dancing career and its challenges, inspirations, and why she encourages more people to take up dancing.

Dancing is fun, exiting and sometimes a challenge she says -"Which is something I love - a good challenge."

Becoming a dancer can be difficult and it takes a great deal of time but certainly worth the effort says Deanna.

She says a great deal of effort has gone into this production involving a very young set of girls and boys.

Deanna says she first started dancing at the age of two and a half years under Yvonne Bradley. "Dancing is not as easy as it seems to be," she says adding that being a dancing teacher "one has awesome responsibilities."

For her classes she uses the newly developed Royal Academy of Dancing (R.A.D) syllabus. Deanna says teaching is something she has always wanted to do. "I enjoy every bit of it - especially the little ones' classes. They cope so well and it's important to start at a young age to reach perfection of this art," says Deanna.

She says there are many a moment where she misses being a dancer on stage herself. The transition from performing to an audience to involving oneself in grooming and training of a cast on stage may seem a little flat. Because after a good theatre performance there is a real buzz," she says. "But through the years I've realised I can get that same buzz from seeing my students' achievements," she adds with a bright smile.

She says ballet is earning growing popularity and a lot of youngsters are taking it up. "This is a positive sign. You see, it's not just exams and school work. Parents should concentrate on improving their aesthetic skills as this type of training and discipline has a definite bearing on their social life as mature adults," she says. Besides appreciating the arts makes one a better person she said.

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