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Ananda Shankar Jayant

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Ananda Shankar Jayant
Born1961 (age 62–63) [note 1]
Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation(s)Classical dancer
Choreographer
Years activeSince 1972
Known forBharatanatyam
Kuchipudi
SpouseJayant
Parent(s)G. S. Shankar
Subhashini Shankar
AwardsPadma Shri
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Kala Ratna Award
Nritya Choodamani
Kalaimamani Award
Natya Illavarasi
Nritya Choodamani
Nritya Kalasagara
Natya Kalasagar
Guru Debaprasad Award
Indian Express Devi Award
Alliance University Nritya Saraswati
Vidya Tapasvi Award
Websiteanandashankarjayant.com
Pratibha Devisingh Patil presenting the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-2009 to Ms. Ananda Shankar Jayant for her outstanding contribution to Bharatanatyam

Ananda Shankar Jayant is an Indian classical dancer, choreographer, scholar and bureaucrat, known for her proficiency in the classical dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi.[2] She is the first woman officer in the Indian Railway Traffic Service on South Central Railway [3] and her 2009 TED talk is ranked among the top twelve Incredible TED talks on cancer.[4] She is a recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, Kalaimamani Award of the Government of Tamil Nadu and Kala Ratna Award of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2007, for her contributions to arts.[5]

Biography

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Ananda Shankar, born in a Tamil Brahmin family from Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu to G. S. Shankar, an officer with Indian Railways and Subhashini, a school teacher and a musician, was brought up in Hyderabad where she did her early education at St. Ann's High School, Secunderabad.[6] She started learning classical dance at the age of 4 under Sharada Keshava Rao and, later, K. N. Pakkiriswamy Pillai, and in 1972 at the age of 11, she joined Kalakshetra of Rukmini Devi Arundale where she trained in Bharatanatyam under teachers such as Padma Balagopal, Sharada Hoffman and Krishnaveni Laxman. After six years of study, she secured her diploma and post graduate diploma from the institution in disciplines of Bharatanatyam, Carnatic music, veena, dance theory and philosophy. She returned to Hyderabad at the age of 17 and founded Shankarananda Kalakshetra, a dance school with eight students, which has since grown into a dance academy, associating such artists as Partha Ghose, Mrunalini Chunduri, Sathiraju Venumadhav and Dolan Banerjee among others.[7] In Hyderabad, she also learned Kuchipudi under Pasumarthy Ramalinga Shastry.[8] Concurrently, she pursued her academic studies and after completing her master's degree in Indian History and Culture from Osmania University, she passed the civil services examination to join the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), thus becoming the first woman officer of the service on South Central Railway [9] While serving IRTS, she continued her studies to secure an MPhil in Art History on a UGC research scholarship and a doctoral degree (PhD) in tourism; her thesis being Promotion of Tourism in India - Role of Railways.[8]

In June 2008, after returning from a Kuchipudi Conference in the US, she was diagnosed with breast cancer which was subsequently treated.[10]

In November 2009, she was invited to share her experiences on TED talk and she delivered a speech, incorporating dance moves in between,[11] which has since been rated as one of the twelve Incredible TED talks on cancer.[9] The Huffington Post ranked her talk as one of the five greatest TED talks by Indians.[12] She resumed her dancing career after her cancer days which lasted two years. Under the aegis of her dance academy, she composed many dance ensembles like What About Me? (1999) and the subsequent Dancing Tales - Panchatantra, based on the ancient Indian fables of the same name and performed on many stages including in Cambodia.[13] Buddham Saranam Gachchami, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Sri Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, Buddham Saranam Gachchami, Expressions of Truth (on Gandhian ideals), An Easel Called Life, Navarasa - Expressions of Life, Darshanam - An Ode to the Eye, Kavyanjali and Tales from the Bull and the Tiger (2019) are some of the dance productions choreographed by her.[14] She also continued her motivational talks and was one of the speakers of the Inspire series at the India Conference at Harvard held at Harvard Business School in February 2016 as well as at Columbia College Chicago and at Oberlin College, Ohio.[15] She guest-edited the 16th edition of Attendance-The Dance Annual Magazine of India,[16] and has released a desktop app for practicing dance.[1]

Ananda Shakar is married to Jayant Dwarkanath [17] and she works as an officer at the Centre for Railway Information Systems, Secunderabad.[18]

Awards and honors

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The Government of Tamil Nadu honored Ananda Shankar with Kalamamani Award in 2002[19]

In 2004, she received the Natya Illavarasi title of the Sree Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, New Delhi[20] and two years later, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai awarded her the title of Nritya Choodamani in 2006.[21] The Government of India awarded her the civilian honor of the Padma Shri in 2007,[5] the same year as she received the title, Nritya Kalasagara from Kalasagaram, Secunderabad.[22] and the Government of Andhra Pradesh included her in the Ugadi Day honors list for the Kala Ratna award in 2008.[23] She received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2009 for her contributions to the dance form of Bharatnatyam.[24] Natya Kalasagar title of Visakha Music Academy reached her in 2010 and she received three awards in 2015, Guru Debaprasad Award of Tridhara,[25] Devi Award for Dynamism and Innovation of the Indian Express[14] and Nritya Saraswati title of Alliance University, Bengaluru.[26]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ 53 years old as of 2015[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "A life in 'mudra'". Live Mint. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Ananda Shankar Jayant: She who danced her way through cancer and conquered it". India Today. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Ananda Shankar Jayant : The First Lady IRTS Officer of South Central Railway, Indian Railways" (PDF). Delhi University. 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  4. ^ "12 Incredible TED Talks on Cancer". Masters in Healthcare. 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
  6. ^ "Padmashri Ananda Shankar Jayant – Part 1". August 20, 2011. Coffee with Sundar. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  7. ^ "Shankarananda Kalakshetra presents Kavyanjali". Narthaki. 23 August 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  8. ^ a b Lalitha Venkat (23 November 2006). "Dance - the essence of my life". Narthaki. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  9. ^ a b "The cancer conqueror". ReDiff. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  10. ^ "Padmashri Ananda Shankar Jayant – Part 2". August 20, 2011. Coffee with Sundar. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Ananda Shankar Jayant: Fighting cancer with dance". Web video. TED Ideas Worth Spreading. November 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Ananda Shankar Jayant on HBS". India Conference at Harvard. 2016. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Dance helped me to shift my mind away from cancer". The Hindu. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Devi Award for Dynamism and Innovation". Indian Express. 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  15. ^ "Never give up on your passion". The Hindu. 17 March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  16. ^ "Dance and Telugu traditions, by Ananda Shankar Jayant". India Today. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  17. ^ "Ananda Shankar Jayant fights cancer with dance". Pharma Info. 2016. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  18. ^ Nirmala Garimella (10 February 2016). "In Conversation With Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayant". Interview. Lokvani. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  19. ^ "Kalaimamani awards announced". The Hindu. 11 October 2003. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  20. ^ "Tyagaraja music and dance fest / New Delhi". Kutcheri Buzz. February 2004. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  21. ^ "Highlights - November 2007". Narthaki. 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  22. ^ "29 selected for Ugadi Puraskarams". The Hindu. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  23. ^ "SNA Awardees". Sangeet Natak Akademi. 2016. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  24. ^ "9th Guru Debaprasad Award Festival". Narthaki. 22 October 2015. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  25. ^ "Nrithya Saraswathi award for Prof. Anuradha". University of Hyderabad. 12 May 2015. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
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