Biographies of Prema Dasara
and Anahata Iradah

Using the vehicles of sacred song and dance, Anahata and Prema have traveled throughout the world in dedicated service to humanity. Their purpose has been to inspire and uplift, inviting everyone to experience the power of their own human potential.

Participants in their workshops benefit from their many years of study and practice on the spiritual path. Their joy, exuberance, and friendliness draw everyone who works with them into heartfull participation.

Prema, working within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and invoking her special connection to the great Mother Tara, opens the vision of interconnectedness and the power of wisdom and compassion.

Anahata, with her gifts as a musician and senior leader of the Dances of Universal Peace, draws participants into a complete experience of the profound revelations of Christ and the Unity of Religious Ideals.

"I must have danced out of my mother's womb," says Prema Dasara, who began formal dance training at the age of three. She soon abandoned the formalities to dance on her own, like her idol Isadora Duncan, as a personal expression in nature. She did not return to formal classes until she went to India in 1976 and became a student of Ramani Ranjan Jena, a master of the Odissi style of Classical Indian Temple Dance.

During the six years she spent in India she worked as an editor for the Theosophical Society, immersing herself in the study of comparative religion. She studied Classical Indian Music and Sanskrit to deepen her understanding of the Hindu Culture.

In 1983 she settled in Hawaii where she became a student of the Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, Lama Sonam Tenzin. He encouraged her to continue her sacred dance work which culminated in the creation of the Mandala Dance of the 21 Praises of Tara, a group ritual based on the profound mind training practices of Tibetan Buddhism. She has traveled the world for 14 years teaching this dance. She has been invited to present the ritual to many of the most accomplished lamas including His Holiness the Dalai Lama who proclaimed the dance, "wonderful".

Prema continues to create dance rituals. For inspiration and authenticity, she studied Charya, the ritual dance of Nepali Buddhists, a style based on Odissi movement but dedicated to Buddhist practice. She studied Tibetan Lama dancing at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, and sacred Balinese dance from the Queen of Peliatan in Bali. She became a student of the revered Meditation master, the Venerable Bokar Rinpoche and underwent a series of retreats to deepen her understanding of the Tibetan methods of practice.

In 1995 a group of friends and students on Maui formed Tara Dhatu, a non profit organization to support Prema and her mission of teaching sacred dance as a means of inspiration and empowerment. In 1997 she went to China to study the healing art of Chi Lel and has incorporated this Mind/body modality in all of her classes. Prema teaches with humor and clarity. She leads anyone who participates in her work into an experience of their own potential, and teaches simple clear methods of developing this wisdom in their day to day life

When Anahata Iradah picked up her first musical instrument at the age of seven she was sure that she had entered the angelic realms. She has been transporting people there ever since, through her ministry of music and dance.

Born and raised in England, she received advanced diplomas from the London College of Music before heading for the United States. There she was introduced to the Dances of Universal Peace, a tradition that celebrates the unity of religious ideals through simple circle dances using the sacred words of the world's great religious traditions.

Over the past ten years she has made great contributions to this tradition. As a musician, she has arranged, recorded, notated and composed many of the treasured songs that accompany the dances. As a teacher she is known for her depth. Having absorbed the background of the dances, she leads her circles into the profound atmosphere of each culture. As a core member of the Mentor Teacher's Guild, she has developed comprehensive curriculum to assist her "mentees" in developing their own dance leading skills.

Ever seeking to broaden her personal experience she graduated from the Healing Light Center Church in Glendale California where she studied to be a natural healer. She received her certificate of Ministry from this church. Working closely for many years with Shinzen Young, a respected Buddhist scholar and meditation instructor, she has incorporated the profound teachings of Buddhism into her work. Inspired by the brilliance of the Sufi path she became a Semazen in the Mevlevi tradition, the whirling dervishes, guided by Jelaluddin Loris in the direct lineage of Rumi. She studied to be a film composer at UCLA which became excellent preparation for her work in producing a series of video documentaries about the Dances of Universal Peace.

Becoming interested in citizen diplomacy through music and dance, she co-led a group of pilgrims to the Middle East in 1993. The delegation met with refugees, spiritual and political leaders and offered the Dances wherever they went.

Anahata teaches with gentleness and openheartedness. Her music and the poetry of her understanding leads her students into the breadth and depth of the human heart.

With their wealth of scholarship, lineage, experience and creativity, the partnership of Anahata and Prema is formidable. They began working together in 1996, touring the world, supporting each other's specialties and creating new works.

In October/November 1998, Prema and Anahata guided another Peace Delegation, a group of Tara Dancers, to India & Nepal at the invitation of H. H. the Dalai Lama. They went to support the Tibetans in exile, and to fulfill the wishes of one of Prema's teachers to bring the Tara dance to the Tibetan people.

They are currently focused on producing a series of videos from this footage, and preparing to lead other delegations on peace missions. They are considered a profound bridge between the East and the West and are committed to uplift and inspire all who work with them, to manifest their highest potential.