Ananda Shankar Jayant

Ananda Shankar Ananda Shankar is an Indian musician, singer, and >> Read More... was born on 27 September 1961 in a Tamil Brahmin family in Tirunelveli District. She was a Famous Classical dancer. She was born to G.S. Shankar (Indian Railways Officer) and Subhashini (School Teacher and Musician) and was brought up in Hyderabad. She studied at St. Ann’s High School, Secunderabad. At the age of 4, she started learning classical dance under Sharada Keshava Rao. Her teachers are Padma Balagopal, Sharada Hoffman, and Krishnaveni Laxman at Kalakshetra of Rukmini Devi Arundale. By the age of 11, she had got both diploma as well as post graduate degrees in Bharatanatyam and various fields like Carnatic music, Veena, dance theory, and Philosophy.

She learned Kuchipudi under Pasumarthy Ramalinga Sastry in Hyderabad. Also, she completed Master’s degree in Indian History and Culture from Osmania University. Ananda Shankar then joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), and became the first woman officer in the service. She completed Ph.D. in Tourism and is married to Jayant. In Hyderabad, she founded a dance school named as Shankarananda Kalashetra. As time went by, it transformed into a dance academy. It was even associated with some artists like Dolan Banerjee and Sathiraju Venumadhav. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with cancer.

She was even invited to share her experiences about cancer on TED talk in 2009. Her speech along with some dance moves in between became very inspirational at TED talks on cancer. She continued her dancing even after cancer, but it lasted only for two years. In 1999, She performed a dance called What About me? And composed many dramas like Panchatantra – Dancing tales. She has performed on many stages and many dance-dramas have been choreographed by her. Some of them include - An Easel, Navarasa, Expressions of Truth – Gandhian Ideals, Etc., She even delivered a speech became a speaker of Inspire series at the Indian Conference which took place in Harvard Business School in February 2016.

She revised the 16th edition of The Dance Annual Magazine of India and even released a desktop app for practicing dance. In 2002, she was honored with the Kalaimamani Award by the Government of Tamil Nadu. In 2004, she received Natya Illavarasi title from Sree Shanmukhananda Sangeetha Sabha, New Delhi. She has also been honored as Nritya Choodamani by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha. In 2007, the Indian Government awarded her a civilian honor of Padma Shri. The Same year she received Nritya Kalasagara from Kalasagaram, Secunderabad. In 2008, she was nominated for Kala Ratna Award. She has been awarded, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. She has also won Indian Express Devi Award, Vidya Tapasvi Award, and Guru Debaprasad Award.