Bharathanatyam dancer celebrates work of neuroscientist

Spinal injuries researcher and classical Bharathanatyam dancer Annapoorna Kuppuswamy is presenting an evening of Indian dance in November as a tribute to a neuroscientist colleague who died earlier this year.

The fundraiser is a tribute to Dr Nick Davey, neuroscientist and spinal injuries researcher of international repute, who was tragically killed in a car crash in February this year. Nick, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, was passionate about helping people with spinal cord injuries. He was moved by the fact that people go from being healthy independent adults to suddenly being completely paralysed and disabled.

Anna is a spinal injuries researcher and a member of the spinal injuries research team at Imperial College. She is also a physiotherapist and a classical bharathanatyam dancer. Her passion being movement, she tries to understand movement through research, experience movement though dance and impart movement through physiotherapy.

Suzannah Povey from Spinal Research said ‘We are delighted that Anna has chosen to put on this event in aid of Spinal Research.  Dr Davey was a talented Scientist with groundbreaking ideas within the Spinal Research field.  This event will celebrate these ideas, and fund more research into the very area he was passionate about."

Dr Nick Davey’s study on the basis of how dancers maintained their postures as opposed to untrained people, was one of his pet projects which inspired Anna to choreograph a new original composition. The composition Verticality is an original choreography based on movement sequences that maintain the vertical posture of the trunk. Verticality will be performed in the show along with traditional Bharathanatyam compositions.