Ananda Shankar Jayant Receives Viswa Kala Bharathi Award

CHENNAI:
Noted Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant has received the Viswa Kala Bharathi award from renowned Chennai-based arts body Bharat Kalachar for her versatile contributions to the field of dance.
The renowned dance guru, choreographer, scholar, writer and speaker joins eminent artists such as Dr Sonal Mansingh, actor Kamal Hasan, Sudha Raghunathan, Dr Padma Subrahmanyam, Chitra Visweswaran, Anita Ratnam and Bombay Jayashree, who have received the prestigious award in previous years.
“I’m honoured to receive the Viswa Kala Bharathi award from Bharat Kalachar, a premier arts organisation that supports and promotes our arts. It indeed is a blessing,” said Dr Ananda who took up dancing at the age of four and has had to overcome obstacles including a battle with cancer in her path to artistic excellence. “My art, my dance defines me and has been my biggest strength in life.”
The dancer was conferred with the award, comprising a medal and citation, in Chennai on Saturday (December 10) by celebrated danseuse Alarmel Valli and the 91-year-old journalist and educationist Y G Parthasarathy, in the presence of stalwarts from the world of music and dance.
The title of “Viswa Kala Bharathi” is given to select artistes every year in recognition of their services to promoting Indian arts across the world. For the year 2016, Dr Ananda and renowned Carnatic musician
Sanjay Subrahmanyan received the award for dance and music respectively.
A brilliant performer, choreographer and erudite scholar, Dr Ananda has received much acclaim and recognition and is renowned for contemporizing classical dance.
She was conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri in 2007 and also received the Nritya Choodamani by the Krishna Gana Sabha, the Kalaimamani from Tamil Nadu government and the Kalaratna from the Andhra Pradesh government.
Bharat Kalachar was established in 1987 as the cultural wing of PSBB Group of schools, to emphasize the all-round development of youth in education, culture, ethical values, and to promote, foster and create cultural awareness and appreciation amongst them for classical fine arts and traditional folk arts.
The institution provides young talents cultural scholarships, to pursue their art, even as every year, promising young artists are awarded titles of Yuva Kala Bharathi.
Hyderabad-based Dr. Ananda judiciously balances her dance with the demands of her job as a senior Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer. As a choreographer and performer, Ananda uses dance to talk about gender issues, humour, mythology and philosophy, social issues, poetry and contemporary ideas.
In 1979, she founded the Shankarananda Kalakshethra, which has groomed scores of reputed dance students and has been organizing cultural festivals over the years. Dr Ananda is a prolific solo and ensemble performer, a much-loved teacher and brilliant choreographer.