In honor of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, Aseemkala and GIAHC present the voices of patients in a Dance-Medicine Narrative. Can’t see the video below? Click here to watch on YouTube.

Shilpa Darivemula of the Aseemkala Initiative Discusses the Use Kuchipudi Dance in Medical Narratives

I remember watching Dr. Krishnan’s presentation at American Medical Women’s Association in 2016 as she shared the stories of those who battled cervical cancer. Her videos visually captured the honest emotions of these life-changing experiences. I had talked to patients undergoing treatment for cervical cancer and I had seen my fair share of power points on the topic, but the immediate connection I felt with Lady Ganga (Michele Baldwin) in her video was surprising and new. We, medical students, bore witness to Michele courageously sharing her story of paddling up the Ganges River before resting in peace. The emotion was palpable in the hall.

Cervical cancer affects the whole human experience. Understanding these stories requires a medium that can immerse the observer—the medical student or physician—in the same milieu of physicality, mentality, and spirituality as the patients and find a suitable vehicle for all to connect in this journey—that medium for me is dance.

The use of dance to tell stories of illness and healing is ancient and incredibly powerful. Kuchipudi dance, one of the seven classical Indian dance forms from Andhra Pradesh, uses natya, nritta and nritya—storytelling, moving to rhythms, and expressing—to tell stories of Hindu mythos. Narrating through rhythms, song, poetry, music and movement with the body binds the audience quickly. It translates the spaces in between the lines, such as the vulnerability in facing in diagnosis, the fear in having to choose a treatment, the joy in discovering the cancer has regressed, the realization that you are stronger than you imagined. Dance breaks barriers by communicating body-to-body, spirit-to-spirit. I felt that connection while watching the artful video created by Dr. Krishnan and her team on empowering the youth and I wanted to contribute to this movement by creating a Kuchipudi dance piece using the stories of cervical cancer survivors.

We sometimes group people as “patients” and generalize their battles in medicine. I want to use the technique and tradition of storytelling and movement in Kuchipudi dance to narrate the individuality, authenticity, and journeys of survivors of cervical cancer. Through embodying the narratives of women who battled cervical cancer, I hope to bring to life not only the importance of screening, but also the power of human resilience and dignity in fighting illness. For me, creating this piece served as a reminder to honor illness as we honor health, recognize the weight of diagnoses on patients and their families, and the importance of humanity in medicine.

With help from GIAHC and ASHA, we interviewed amazing survivors and created music that incorporated their voices. I then choreographed a piece reflecting their stories, describing what waiting in the examination room feels like for patient facing the unknown in just a paper gown. Hopefully, the video encourages women to get the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer and have regular screening to catch any disease early, and to also let them know they are not alone in any feelings they may have. I also hope it gently reminds us as physicians-in-training to respect individual stories and to recognize the importance of bearing witness, as we did with Michele’s video paddling up the Ganges.