Talk:Priya Thomas

Parents

This is very strange "(her father is a Syrian Orthodox minister, her mother a physicist)"! Father is clearly a Christian but her mother's religion is not shared. Is that because her mother could be a Hindu? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.29.50.135 (talk) 05:07, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

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Proposed updated version (fully sourced)

Hello—In line with the disclosure on my user page, I am posting a proposed update to the article. The current text is outdated and undersourced. Below is a complete, neutrally written rewrite with reliable citations (Brock News, Interview Magazine, Magnet Magazine, etc.). Paywalled sources (The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star) are noted as verifiable.

I hold the original printed reviews cited from The Globe and Mail (2008), The Toronto Star (2008), and Montreal publications (1996) in my personal archives. These are verifiable primary print sources and can be confirmed privately if required.

I am requesting review and, if appropriate, replacement of the current text by an uninvolved editor.

Priya Thomas
Priya Thomas, Sled Island Music Festival
Born	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupations	Artist, scholar
Years active	1996–present

Priya Thomas is a Canadian artist and scholar whose multidisciplinary practice spans choreography, musical composition, theatre, and historical research. She has released music under her own name and under the moniker Iroquois Falls. She has shared stages with artists including Radiohead, The Fall, James, and John Cale.

Early life and education

Raised in Montreal, Thomas began studying violin at a young age and started writing songs at eleven. She completed a DEC in Fine Arts before earning a B.A. in Religious Studies from McGill University, where she also pursued Sanskrit. She later obtained an M.A. and Ph.D. from York University.

Academic career

Thomas has held tenure-stream appointments in university dance and theatre departments in Canada and the United States. From 2018 to 2021, she served as a tenure-stream professor in the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. She currently teaches in the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University. Between 2021 and 2024, she served as the Book Reviews Editor for the peer-reviewed academic journal Theatre Research in Canada (University of Toronto Press). Her publication record centres on dance and theatre histories, with particular focus on the non-human in performance.

Music career

Priya Thomas performing at The Spitz in London

Thomas released her debut album In the Throes of the Microscope in 1996. Her follow-up, Armageddon Weather Channel (1998), was recorded with contributions from Ian Ilavsky (Constellation Records, Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed You! Black Emperor). She later released Songs for Car Commercials (2003) and You and Me Against the World Baby (2006) on UK-based IRL/Universal Records. In 2008, she released Priya Thomas is Blood Heron (Renovation Tracks) on Sunny Lane/Universal. Reviewed in national and regional outlets, Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail described the record as “all guts, bones, and jugular veins,” while in his Anti-Hit List column, John Sakamoto of The Toronto Star called Thomas’s music “comically literate,” alluding to its raw textures and emotional precision.

In 2012, under the project name Iroquois Falls, Thomas released the EP Twice-Born-Once-From-A-Gun through Hi-Scores/Universal Records. Writing for Interview Magazine, Erin Brady described the accompanying video for “The Magician’s Niece” as “opening like a diary entry” and creating “an effect, coupled with the flicker of found footage, [that] is at once trance-like and jarring.”

Dance and theatre

Thomas trained in the Balasaraswati tradition of Bharatanatyam under Priyamvada Sankar, daughter of Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan, performing her arangetram in 1983 and continuing to study and perform until 1995 in Canada, the United States, and India. Alongside her classical training, she studied Carnatic vocal music with Sankar. Her later choreographic work explores the relationship between embodiment and visuality, intersecting dance, sound, and text-based practices. In recent years, she has choreographed and directed theatrical productions in Canada.

Discography

• 1996: In the Throes of the Microscope
• 1998: Armageddon Weather Channel
• 2003: Songs for Car Commercials
• 2006: You and Me Against the World Baby
• 2008: Priya Thomas is Blood Heron (Renovation Tracks)
• 2012: Twice-Born-Once-From-A-Gun EP

External links

• Official website
• Faculty profile – Brock University

Note: I would prefer to omit the "Discography" section from the proposed update. The rest of the article text remains accurate and complete. — Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 06 November 2025 (UTC)

See also

• Canadian musicians
• Canadian interdisciplinary artists
• Canadian women in music
• Performance studies research

“Request to remove outdated and incorrect content (COI)”

Hello — I am an editor with a declared conflict of interest, as I am associated with the subject. I would appreciate assistance from an uninvolved editor.

Two items in the current article are outdated or inaccurate and need correction:

The Discography section – It contains outdated material and duplicates information already present in the prose. It should be removed for clarity and accuracy. The statement that the subject “she also teaches and practices Ashtanga yoga in Toronto.”

This information is outdated and no longer accurate; it should be removed.

Requested edits:

Remove the entire Discography section Remove the sentence referring to studying/teaching Ashtanga yoga

Thank you very much for reviewing this request. Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 12:11, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

 Done removed the discography section Perfecnot (talk) 04:39, 20 January 2026 (UTC)

---

Hello again — adding a brief clarification so the request is actionable under COI guidelines.

• Please remove the outdated “Discography” section. • Please remove the sentence stating I “currently study and teach Ashtanga yoga in Toronto,” as it is no longer accurate. • Please replace the article content with the fully-sourced draft provided above in this section.

For clarity, the exact sentence currently on the article is: “She also teaches and practices Ashtanga yoga in Toronto.” This is outdated information, so I’m flagging it here for an editor to remove it.

Thank you — and I won’t add further notes unless requested. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Commons Arts Archivist (talk • contribs) 12:18, 14 November 2025 (UTC)

Hello — just following up on the edit request above, as some time has passed without a response. I wanted to check whether an uninvolved editor would be able to review the proposed update when time permits. Many thanks for your time and consideration. Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 18:07, 1 January 2026 (UTC)

Commons Arts Archivist Sorry to be late to the game here. Your request is the oldest that is not being worked. The backlog is almost 400 articles now, so every request has to be easy to understand. I can't tell without doing more work what you want to change, and it looks like some of the work was done (discography removal). Can you use the format that I describe here? User:STEMinfo/COI_edit_requests#Simple_connected_edit_request. You can ping me to review when you are done. STEMinfo (talk) 19:58, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

@STEMinfo:

Hello — thank you for your guidance. I’ve simplified my request into specific edits below.

1. Lead paragraph:

Replace with:

Priya Thomas is a Canadian artist and scholar whose work spans choreography, musical composition, theatre, and research. She has released music under her own name and under the moniker Iroquois Falls, and her practice brings together performance, music, drama, and writing.

 Done} - @Commons Arts Archivist: Responding to ping. The lead only summarizes the article, so no sources are needed. For the other items, you'll want to put the full citations inline so I can read them and review. If I can't just click on them to review, it'll take too much time. It will also help if you show the before and after text so we can see what's changing, per the code I showed you. There are over 500 requests in the queue now, and the ones that are easier to review are the ones that will be implemented first. STEMinfo (talk) 22:23, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

@STEMinfo:

Hello — thank you for your guidance. I have reformatted my request below with inline citations and before/after text for clarity.

1. LEAD PARAGRAPH

Current text:

[please replace the current lead paragraph]

Replace with:

Priya Thomas is a Canadian artist and scholar whose work spans choreography, musical composition, theatre, and research. She has released music under her own name and under the moniker Iroquois Falls, and her practice brings together performance, music, drama, and writing.

---

2. EARLY LIFE AND TRAINING (clarification + lineage + citation)

Current text:

Thomas trained as a dancer under Priyamvada Sankar in Montreal.

Replace with:

Thomas trained as a dancer under Priyamvada Sankar in Montreal, daughter of Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan.

---

3. CHOREOGRAPHY / THEATRE WORK (restore with sourcing)

Current text:

[the sentence referring to choreography appears to have been removed]

Replace with:

Thomas has choreographed for theatre productions and worked across performance and dramaturgical contexts.

---

4. V. RAGHAVAN CONTEXT (additional citation)

Add citation supporting V. Raghavan’s significance:

---

Thank you — I hope this format makes the edits easier to review. Please let me know if anything needs further clarification.

~2026-26418-48 (talk) 23:59, 1 May 2026 (UTC) ~2026-26418-48 (talk) 23:59, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Just to clarify — the previous comment above was also me (Commons Arts Archivist), posted while I was temporarily logged out. Apologies for any confusion.

Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 00:14, 2 May 2026 (UTC)x

Sources: Fefferman (2005); Lepage (1996); Brock University profile

2. Academic career:

Add:

Thomas has held tenure-stream appointments in university dance and theatre departments in Canada and the United States. From 2018 to 2021, she served as a tenure-stream professor in the Department of Dance at Texas Woman’s University. She currently teaches in the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University.

Sources: Brock University profile; Brock News (2022, 2024)

3. Dance and theatre:

Replace / expand with:

Thomas trained in the Balasaraswati tradition of Bharatanatyam under Priyamvada Sankar in Montreal, daughter of V. Raghavan, and a student of T. Balasaraswati. She performed her arangetram in 1983 and continued to study and perform until 1995 in Canada, the United States, and India. Alongside her classical training, she studied Carnatic vocal music and Sanskrit with Sankar. Her later work includes choreography for theatre and interdisciplinary performance.

Sources: Marsolais (1996); O’Meara (1996); Hinduism Today (2019); Madras Music Academy archive

4. Music section:

Please retain current structure but include sourced reception:

Her recordings have been reviewed in national and regional outlets. Brad Wheeler of The Globe and Mail described her work as “all guts, bones, and jugular veins,” while John Sakamoto of the Toronto Star referred to it as “comically literate.”

Sources: Wheeler (2008); Sakamoto (2008)

5. Iroquois Falls:

Clarify as:

In 2012, under the project name Iroquois Falls, Thomas released the EP Twice-Born-Once-From-A-Gun.

6. Remove outdated sentence:

“She also teaches and practises Ashtanga yoga in Toronto.”

7. Discography:

I understand the discography was removed and am fine leaving it out.

Additional sources for dance lineage:

Hinduism Today (2019): https://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2019/06/12/how-bharata-natyam-came-to-montreal/

Madras Music Academy archive: https://musicacademymadras.in/old-madras-dr-raghavan-and-the-music-academy/

Thank you for your time and help with this. Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 16:16, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

This request gotten a bit scrambled from multiple changes relative to what was originally posted. From what I read:

• the incorrect information has been removed
• the discography has been removed
• the lead has been updated as requested
• the early life and education section is done
• the Iroquois Falls addition is done.

For the rest, Academic career, Dance and theatre are to be added; and the current Music career is to be changed substantially. Fiske (talk) 19:55, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

For the Dance section, I am not able to source the statements about Priya's training with the references given, particularly the important connection to Priyamvada Sankar. Additional or better sources are needed to nail that down. Fiske (talk) 20:14, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

In the Academic career section, I could source most of the information and I have added that. I was not able to confirm the dates or tenure-stream from the sources. I notice that an earlier version of the request had included a statement about publications - that could be sourced (without ebellishment) by added a citation of one or two of her publications. Fiske (talk) 20:23, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

I've replaced the music career section, in line with this request, and moved the dance material to a separate section. For the latter, I have tagged parts as. When those source are found, please open a NEW {{edit coi}} request. I will close this request. Fiske (talk) 20:52, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Additional sourced updates for dance/theatre background

Hello — following up with several institutional sources that may help clarify and support the remaining dance and theatre material, including the earlier question regarding evidence for theatre involvement.

Suggested wording:

“Thomas trained in Bharata Natyam under Priyamvada Sankar in Montreal, in the T. Balasaraswati tradition. Sankar was the daughter of Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan.”

Supporting sources:

• York University / University of Toronto Graduate Dance Symposium program (2019), which describes Thomas as:

“Concurrently trained as a Bharata Natyam dancer (in the T. Balasaraswati tradition) and as a classical violinist.”

• “How Bharata Natyam Came to Montreal” (Hinduism Today):

https://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2019/06/12/how-bharata-natyam-came-to-montreal/

• “Dr. Raghavan and the Music Academy” (Music Academy Madras):

https://musicacademymadras.in/old-madras-dr-raghavan-and-the-music-academy/

Regarding theatre/choreography involvement:

The Brock University Humanities Research Institute Annual Report 2023–24 includes a professional biography confirming:

• prior appointment at Texas Woman’s University,
• interdisciplinary practice across music/dance/choreography,
• and direction of The Foreigner (Helen Belay) for the Decolonize Your Ears Festival at Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton.

The report also describes Thomas as working across “musician/dancer/choreographer” practices and theatre-related teaching and directing activities.

Thank you again for your work on the article.

Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 16:37, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

I've added a coi edit request tag to this new request, so that it will be noticed. (I saw this request randomly, and I don't have time today to look at it.) If no one else picks it up soon, send me a ping: {{ping|Fiske}} Fiske (talk) 13:09, 6 June 2026 (UTC)

@Fiske:

Following your suggestion, I am just checking whether you have had an opportunity to revisit this COI edit request.

Since this request was posted, I have located additional published sources that may help address the remaining sourcing questions relating to the dance section, including reliable secondary sources on Priyamvada Sankar and the T. Balasaraswati tradition. I have also located the original 1985 arangetram programme, which I understand is a primary source but may help verify straightforward factual details alongside the published sources.

If you have an opportunity to revisit this request, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again for your time and earlier guidance.

Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 18:49, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

I don't see "Priya Thomas" listed in either of the hyperlinked articles. I don't see a link to the dance symposium program or to the Annual Report 2023-4. Fiske (talk) 21:34, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

@Fiske: Thank you for taking another look at this request.

The links to the two sources mentioned in the original edit request are below:

• Graduate Dance Symposium programme:
• Brock Humanities Research Institute Annual Report 2023–24:

The Graduate Dance Symposium programme identifies Priya Thomas and her Bharatanatyam training under Priyamvada Sankar. The Brock Humanities Research Institute Annual Report documents Thomas's interdisciplinary work across music, dance, choreography and theatre, including her theatre directing.

An additional primary source is also available but has not yet been uploaded. Thomas's original 1985 Bharatanatyam arangetram programme identifies her as "Priya Thomas, student of Priyamvada Sankar." This programme is offered only to verify the straightforward factual teacher–student relationship. The broader biographical and historical context continues to rely on the published secondary sources already cited in the edit request. It can be made available through Wikimedia if that would assist in verifying the teacher-student relationship.

With these additional source links, Thomas respectfully asks that the proposed replacement wording for the "Dance and theatre" section be reconsidered.

Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 21:13, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

One further clarification regarding the proposed replacement wording. The intended wording for the "Dance and theatre" section is:

Thomas trained in the Balasaraswati tradition of Bharatanatyam under Priyamvada Sankar, a senior disciple of T. Balasaraswati who founded the first Bharatanatyam school of its kind in Montréal. Sankar was also the daughter of Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan. Thomas continued her Bharatanatyam studies with Sankar through 1995 and also studied Carnatic vocal music with her while pursuing Sanskrit at McGill University.

Thomas has choreographed and performed in contemporary dance pieces, most notably collaborating with Hari Krishnan on 3 Equals One of Whatever Happens. She has also worked as a choreographer for theatre, dramaturg and theatre director.

This is the wording that the edit request proposes for the section. Thank you. Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 21:25, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, this all helps. Graduate Dance Symposium programme is not open to those outside UofT evidently "forbidden by administrative rules". Fiske (talk) 23:11, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

Thank you. A PDF of the Graduate Dance Symposium programme is available because the article's subject participated in the symposium. However, the programme was not created by the article's subject, and its copyright is not held by the subject or by the editor making this request. As such, it would not be appropriate to upload the programme to Wikimedia Commons. If the programme cannot be used for verification because it is not publicly accessible, reliance on the other available sources is perfectly acceptable. Thank you again for taking the time to review these materials. Commons Arts Archivist (talk) 21:10, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

 Not done The requested addition ("Thomas trained in Bharata Natyam under Priyamvada Sankar in Montreal, in the T. Balasaraswati tradition. Sankar was the daughter of Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan.”) is not supported by the Hinduism Today and Madras Music Academy sources (neither mention Priya Thomas) and also not supported by the Annual Report (does not mention Bharata Natyam or Sankar).

The Annual Report also does not support any of the specific statements in the Dance and Theater section (except perhaps part of the final sentence).

I am closing this request. Fiske (talk) 23:23, 30 July 2026 (UTC)

References