Brave teen dances her way into hearts

BERHAMPUR: When 15-year-old Pawani of Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district took to the stage for a Kuchhipudi dance performance at an event here on Saturday, the packed hall broke into a thunderous applause.
The cheers were not only for her performance, but also for her grit. For the teenager doesn't have a leg and uses prosthetics.
She is being hailed as the next Sudha Chandran, who became a household name as a Bharatanatyam dancer despite losing one of her legs to gangrene following a road accident.
Pawani too lost one of her legs in a road accident at the age of one-and-half years. And like Chandran, she went on to become a dancer.
"Inspired by Chandran, young Pawani trained herself in classical dance forms like Kuchhipudi and Bharatnatyam," her father K Janardhan Rao said. "I allowed her to follow her dreams and she has been practicing for the last six years," he added.
"With the help of Jaipur leg, Pawani performed to the rhythm of Radha-Krishna songs for about 20 minutes. Like Sudha Chandran, she is an inspiration to others as she did not lose hope of becoming a dancer," said Sudipta Panigrahi, one of the officials of Madhumaya Foundation, which organized the cultural event on the occasion of Kumar Punei Janha Lo.
Before her performance here she had been on the stage in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam and Chennai.
"She has a keen interest to learn dance and she immediately picks up whatever we teach her," her dance teacher V Hemagiri said.
Besides Pawani, Namrata Gupta, an internationally acclaimed Odissi dancer, performed with her Mumbai-based troupe. Anil R Patel and troupe from Ahwa, Gujarat, performed tribal dance on the occasion.