To Take on the Unknown: Dancing Stories of Cervical Cancer

"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." - Shilpa Darivemula

Designed by the Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer (GIAHC) in collaboration with the Aseemkala Initiative, this video blends the stories of cervical cancer survivors with classical Kuchipudi dance in a dance-medicine narrative. Created in honour of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the video seeks to communicate the need for women to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and get their regular Pap screening (and HPV DNA test as appropriate). It is hoped that the video will encourage women to take these actions to detect the disease early and to also let them know they are not alone in any feelings they may have if they are suffering from it. Another goal is to remind physicians-in-training to respect individual stories and to recognise the importance of "bearing witness" to their patients' stories.

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 is a strategy for binding the audience to what they see. It translates what it is like to experience illness, such as vulnerability in facing in diagnosis, the fear in having to choose a treatment, the joy in discovering the cancer has regressed, and the realisation that you are stronger than you imagined. Co-Creator Shilpa Darivemula of the Aseemkala Initiative explains, "[d]ance breaks barriers by communicating body to body, spirit to spirit....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."

The collaboration between GIAHC and the Aseemkala Initiative came about after Darivemula saw the GIAHC's Dr. Shobha Krishnan's presentation at American Medical Women's Association in 2016 as she shared stories of those who battled cervical cancer through videos that visually captured the emotions of these life-changing experiences. Darivemula explains, "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." With help from the GIAHC and the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA), the Aseemkala Initiative interviewed survivors and created music that incorporated their voices. Darivemula then choreographed a piece reflecting their stories, describing what waiting in the examination room feels like for a patient facing the unknown while wearing only a paper gown.

GIAHC, which is as of this writing a programme of ASHA and is in the process of becoming an independent voluntary non-profit, has as its mission: for women to live in a cervical cancer-free world by embracing the power of collective engagement. Aseemkala, which means "art without borders", is an initiative aiming to preserve dance-culture diversity, promote intersectionality between indigenous communities, and explore cultural beliefs on medicine and healing. One of the Aseemkala Initiative's programmes is called Dancespeaks, which creates dance-medicine narratives on patients and providers working to overcome disease. The Aseemkala Initiative, directed by medical students Rohini Bhatia and Shilpa Darivemula, focuses on "reconnecting the dancer-doctor, showing that despite many traditional languages of dance and the many manifestations of illness and medicine, the human body and experience is shared and celebrated."