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Woman of courage

Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Battling the odds Ananda Shankar Jayant

A close encounter with Padma Shri Ananda Shankar Jayant, the noted danseuse, would remind one of the famous lines from the motivational poem Casabianca. With able support from her family members and the zeal to conquer all adversaries, the danseuse is in the process of successfully overcoming the dreaded disease of cancer. She however, has a different metaphor for it. She compares it with the victory of ‘Mahishasura Mardini’ (Goddess Durga) over the demon ‘Mahishasura’.

“The day I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I decided on three things: This page in my life would not effect the other pages of my life; I will not allow the disease to ride me and in turn I will ride it out of my life; and I did not want it to be kept a secret and be burdened with the burden of secrecy,” she said.

The danseuse was here recently to deliver a lecture and perform on behalf of Rohit Memorial Trust, a cancer support group. Talking of her life she said, “My journey into the realm of dance began at the age of four. A chance meeting with Subhashini Shankar, the famed musician, at the Subrahmanya Swamy temple in Hyderabad, along with my mother was the genesis. She said, ‘the child’s eyes are large, you must teach her dance’. That impelled my mother to put me under the care of my first guru Sharada Keshava Rao and thus it began…”

She also trained under K.N. Pakkiriswamy Pillai and later moved to Kalakshetra in Chennai at the age of 11, on a scholarship after winning the All India Gold Medal in the junior section.

At Kalakshetra, she spent six years under the watchful eyes of Rukmini Devi Arundale in the true guru-sishya parampara. Apart from learning Bharatanatyam she picked up Carnatic music, dance theory and philosophy. At the age of 17 she became a dance teacher. On her return to Hyderabad, she picked up Kuchipudi from Pasumarthy Ramalinga Shastry.

Her love for dance did not allow her to neglect her academics. She acquired a post-graduate degree in ancient history, culture and archaeology from Osmania University, M.Phil on the topic ‘Development of Bharatanatyam- Role of Kalakshetra and a Ph.D on the theme ‘Promotion of tourism in India- Role of Railways’. She also has the distinction of being selected as the first lady officer in the country for the Indian Railway Traffic Service under the Civil Services examination. She currently serves the Indian Railways as Commercial Manager and is based at Hyderabad.

On her selection to the Railway services, she humorously adds, “Since I was the only lady officer in the traffic section in the railways in those days, my colleagues had a big problem in addressing me as ‘madam’. For about four months they would by instinct address me as ‘sir’.”

During her battle with cancer, the surgery or the ordeals of chemotherapy hadn’t dampened her spirits by a fraction. Within a week after her surgery, she was back rehearsing with her dance school students for a major festival and after two months she gave a performance.

“To me dance is my life breath. I dance to be happy, for I dance with joy to reach that permanent state of bliss,” she said.

Elaborating on the concept of art, she noted, “Parents should encourage children to take up at least one art form. Art gives peace to mind and there can be no better escape mechanism than the art forms. Art is a spiritual journey.”

Though she specialises in the traditional forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi, she believes that the dance forms can be translated both in the traditional form and the contemporary styles. She started her own dance school, Shankarananda Kalakshetra, where she encourages both the traditional form and the contemporary styles of choreography.

“For me dance is a medium of communication. As long as you can communicate and touch someone it the right place, the dance forms should be accepted,” she said.

Ananda Shankar Jayant has also launched a cancer support organisation, Aasha, to counsel and support women diagnosed with breast cancer.

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