Priya Thomas trained in the South Asian classical dance form Bharatanatyam in
the Balasaraswati lineage. She began training at four and spent 21 years studying with Priyamvada Sankar, herself the primary pupil of Sangita Kalanidhi T. Balasaraswati (1918–1984). Priyamvada Sankar, the eldest daughter of eminent Sanskrit scholar V. Raghavan, was Balasaraswati’s first student at the Madras Music Academy and remained her daily pupil for nineteen years. Thomas
performed her arangetram (a full-length recital marking formal initiation into stage performance) in 1983 and continued to study both Carnatic vocal music and
dance with Sankar until 1995, performing regularly in Canada, the US, and India. While enrolled in McGill University’s Religious Studies program, she also studied Sanskrit with Sankar weekly, supplementing her formal undergraduate work in Sanskrit.
Over the years, Thomas has choreographed and performed contemporary dance works
as well as performances drawing from South Asian dance forms and movement vocabularies. After studying flamenco in Seville, she began formal flamenco training in Toronto and has performed flamenco in Toronto and Spain. She currently trains with Flamenco Academy Maria Serrano in Toronto.