My first impression of her was a very large pair of eyes. 70mm, we called it! They looked with searing intelligence and wit. An all-encompassing gaze. Completely confident, her personality seemed 8 feet tall. Something lurked around her. An itinerant playfulness, restless, eager to challenge the world and merge with the Universe. Completely fearless, she had the ability to laugh at herself and infect everything that came her way with a wellness of being. Everyday of the eight years I knew her was for me, an exciting human adventure. Trust and belief. That’s all it takes to hold each other up, she said. Hers was a word of honour. If she promised you something, you never doubted that it would be. And here we are, holding each other up and still helping to hold up her baby, Nrityagram.

Laughter, always laughter. That’s what she wanted and that’s how we remember her. With joy and with laughter. I remember the stories she told. You were never sure of the truth. But you always got your money’s worth! Each story was exaggerated, spiced, laced, ornamented, reinterpreted in a thousand different ways, fraught with comic relief. Always drama. Juice every moment for what its worth was her motto. Time was of prime importance, as each moment was a vanishing one and was treated as if something had to be won. In her book, “either you dance or die!”

Her constant refrain to us was, get out of your own way, grab every moment like it is the last! Vibrant and alive she chose and charted her own destiny.