Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Published : June 17, 2015 10:39 AM IST
53-year-old Padma Shri awardee Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant is a leading Bharatnatyam-Kuchipudi dancer-choreographer and is also one of the 12 TED Talkers on cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer in July 2008 and underwent treatment for two years. What is moving and inspiring about her battle with cancer is the fact that she continued to dance all throughout her treatment. She believes dance helped her heal and fight cancer.
In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, she told her tale of how she fought cancer.
She began her training in Hyderabad at the age of four and won her first gold medal at 11. After that, she was invited to join the Kalakshetra Academy in Chennai. She continued her dancing journey even after she was selected in the Indian Railways Traffic Service. She travelled the world while teaching people along and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2007.
However, her journey took a sharp turn when she was diagnosed with cancer on July 1 the following year. She writes that she cried all the way back from the clinic thinking she would have to give up dancing and not about how she would fight her carcinoma. But her husband gave her the strength and made her believe that it's not the end of her dance. Read: Dance to transform your body, mind and soul
She realised early on that only had control over three things, her mind, her thoughts and the action derived from them. She was angry, scared and frustrated but she believed that the only way to escape it was to focus on something that moved her and touched her.
Her surgery was conducted within a week and two days after she started preparing for a national dance festival. She worked on a laptop from her hospital to finalise itinerary of the artists and designs of the invitation. She came back home on July 10 and started conducting rehearsals. She conducted and compeered the national dance festival. She writes her body mind and soul were occupied with dance. She told her tumour Hail fellow well met! But now be gone. I have no time for you.' (sic)
She explains, she by shifting her focus she changed the paradigm of her actions and reactions following cancer. Cancer is a mind game, like several of life's setbacks. She would weep every ay but she would fight it drag herself to the studio and practise as much as she could. She didn't let the misery overpower her because tears and fears were not an option. Every time she would think of cancer she would shift her focus and concentrate on her mudras and her dance.
Image source: TedEx Getaway/Facebook
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