On Queens, teachers, and the women who quietly build the future
There is something about Sri Lanka and strong women. Through war, through multiple financial crises, through chaos, they have never stopped making decisions — even when the sky looks uncertain and the sea looks restless.
For example, we grew up hearing about Viharamahadevi. A young woman placed in a golden boat and set adrift to calm a furious ocean. A story soaked in legend, yes! But beneath the poetry, lies something profound: A woman who stepped forward to save her people and whose courage altered the direction of history.
We repeat her name in textbooks. We name roads and parks after her. But sometimes I wonder, if we have truly understood what her story whispers. It tells us that a woman’s sacrifice is not weakness, it’s power in its most refined form. It tells us that nations are not built only in battlefields, but also in the decisions of women who choose bravery over anything else.
And then I think of Aunty Oosha.
No ocean swallowed her. Yet she, too, changed the direction of a generation.
When Oosha Saravanamuttu began shaping ballet in Sri Lanka, it certainly was not easy. Classical ballet, with its European roots and strict discipline, could have remained a distant art form. Instead, she made it accessible. She trained children who did not all come from privilege. She waived fees and gave costumes when needed and insisted that Sri Lankan children deserved to learn the graceful art of Ballet. She even went a step further by reimagining legendary stories like Ashoka-Mala, Saradiel, and Kuweni, localising a European art form and giving it a Sri Lankan heartbeat.
In her studio, history was also being rewritten. Correction after correction, rehearsal by rehearsal.
It is easy to romanticise sacrifice when it belongs to a queen from centuries past. It is harder to recognise sacrifice when it is a teacher believing in a child more than the child believes in themselves.
But the narrative is the same, from Viharamahadevi to Aunty Oosha, there is a lineage of women who understood something profound: that their choices ripple far beyond themselves.
Today, The Ballet School stands as proof of that ripple. A women-run organization, led by those who once stood at the barre as nervous little girls, but now as women, dedicated their lives to continuing that legacy of innovation, discipline and artistry.
It became the place where nervous four-year-olds learn confidence before they learn pirouettes. Where teenagers discover discipline before they discover applause. Where leadership is not taught in theory, but modelled daily by women who run productions, manage crises, guide parents, and hold space for artistic growth….. and growth needs support.
This is where another kind of leadership enters the story. Not with a crown or a pointe shoe, but with belief. Philanthropy often carries glamour in photographs, but true philanthropy is patient and consistent. Supporting education, opportunities and platforms where young people, especially girls, can grow.
The Sabrina Yusoof Foundation stands in that quiet but powerful space, ensuring that education and opportunity are not momentary, but lasting. Be it through their “Back to School”, “Share a meal” or “Water for Life” projects, they emerge as the natural evolution of the same feminine instinct: to protect, to sustain, to pay forward.
As you look closely, you begin to see the pattern.
A queen who built a kingdom, a teacher who cultured movement, an institution that builds the next generation and a foundation that invests in potential.
None of these stories exist in isolation. They are chapters of the same narrative.
In Sri Lanka, strength has often worn a woman’s face. It has worn a crown, a ballet bun and the woes of a founder fighting to keep the dream alive.
The country we stand on has been shaped not only by kings and politicians, but by women who chose courage in whatever form their moment demanded. Perhaps this is what we should really celebrate.
Not just women who survive. But women who build.
Women who steady oceans. Women who steady classrooms. Women who steady futures.
And somewhere between an ancient golden boat and a modern rehearsal studio, you realise something quietly powerful……….. The story never stopped.
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