Dr Ananda Shankar Jayant, inhabits the worlds of administration, academics, and arts; straddling them with equal ease.
Celebrated as one of India’s most eminent and renowned classical dancer, choreographer and dance scholar, Ananda’s artistic body of work ,spans mythologies and abstraction, historical chronicles and women studies, poetry and abstraction, philosophy and humour.
As the Artistic Director of Shankarananda Kalakshetra, Ananda, leads an acclaimed ensemble, besides training and presenting the next generation of Bharatanatyam artists.
For her contribution to the field of classical art, she was conferred the "Padma Shri" (India’s 4th highest civilian award) in 2007 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar (India’s apex cultural body) for Bharatanatyam in 2009.
Ananda is a sought after motivational speaker and actively engages with young India on a wide range of topics, at leading corporate entities, leadership programs, hospitals, universities and schools. A TED speaker in 2009, her TED talk after her tryst with Cancer has been ranked as one of 12 Incredible TED talks on the subject. In January 2015, the Huffington Post ranked Ananda’s TED talk, as one of five greatest TED talks by Indians.
Another rare honour was a recent invitation to speak at the Harvard Business School for the Inspire Series of the India Conference at Harvard
Ananda is an officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service and is currently posted at the Centre for Railway Information Systems, in Hyderabad, India.