Artistic Swimming | 3/24/2022 3:37:00 PM

DENTON, Texas (March 24, 2022) – Throughout history, a prized commonality between cultures has always been storytelling.
 
Travelers around a fire making their way to new lands. A written language inscribed on the side of stone walls. A dance performed to music – the importance of storytelling exists as an undeniable truth.
 
Kathak, which originated from the word kathakers or storytellers, is an ancient Indian form of dance which tells stories. Believed to have begun in ancient Northern India, Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance.
 
For freshman Anaya Kashikar, mastering the art of kathak allows her to tell her story, while expressing her culture, love of creativity and passion for the arts.
 
Kashikar grew up in Austin, Texas in a vibrant Indian household. Her parents, who migrated from India, immersed Kashikar and her brother in Indian culture by speaking Marathi around the house and cooking traditional Indian dishes.
 
When she was young, around four or five years old, Kashikar's mother wanted her to learn Kathak to stay connected to her heritage.
 
"It's really important to me to stay connected to my heritage," Kashikar said. "I can understand the language, but I don't really speak it. I am working on learning to read and write it. I also see it as a responsibility of  how I stay connected, and it is cool how much there is to learn."
 
At first, Kashikar took classes at a dance studio. As she began advancing, Kashikar joined an Indian dance school in Dallas, Texas that was affiliated with a conservatory and boasted accredited programs. Since Kashikar lived in Austin, she zoomed with the teacher weekly starting in 2012.
 
Kashikar said her mother inspired her love for creative expression.
 
"My mom is really cool," Kashikar said. "My mom and I are both very creative people My mom sings, so she's working towards her Bachelor's in Indian classical singing. She loves writing plays and directing. I have danced in her plays. She will write a play and all her friends will act and then she directs them."
 
Just as dance involves various movements that intertwine to tell a story, so do individuals' lives. Kathak existed as one movement in Kashikar's life. It coincided with her earning her high school diploma, and the other activity in her life: artistic swimming.
 
When she was in elementary school, a friend invited her to watch an artistic swimming performance and Kashikar was enamored with the sport.
 
At the time, she was dancing and doing gymnastics. She decided to add swimming, because she said she loved being in the water and loved the creative expression it embodied.
 
"I feel like I am not a traditional sports athlete like running," Kashikar said. "The more creative artistic performing side gets to show in artistic swimming and that's why I fell in love."
 
Kashikar swam with the Austin Angelfish from third grade until her senior year in high school.
 
Although they seem vastly different, Kashikar said her dance enhances her swimming and vice versa.
 
"Through performance – that aspect translates," Kashikar said. "No matter what happens on the stage or in the pool you have to make it look good because people are watching you."
 
While swimming and going to school, Kashikar was also working toward her bachelor's degree equivalency in Kathak. On July 31, 2021, Kashikar told her story through Kathak, utilizing movement to showcase the beauty of her culture and her life.
 
To earn her degree, Kashikar performed a solo two-and-half hour show, which included unique routines and costume changes. The theme of her show was water, because "water is a big part of my life." She performed to live music and wore 125 bells on each foot, which emphasizes the technicality of her footwork—an important foundation of Kathak.
 
One of the routines in Kashikar's performance bridged her two creative outlets, artistic swimming and kathak, and brought them together on the stage. In the background, one of her team swimming routines played, while Kashikar matched the movements on stage through Kathak.
 
By combining the two, Kashikar showcased the beauty of storytelling and the truth that the intertwining of various pieces in personal stories combine to form an amazing display.
 
After graduating from high school, Kashikar decided to come to Texas Woman's University to pursue her dream of becoming a physical therapist, while continuing her passion of swimming with the Pioneers first artistic swimming team this season.
 
"I was looking for a good physical therapy program, kinesiology, because I want to do physical therapy and TWU has a really good program," Kashikar said. "I didn't really know about the artistic swimming team when I first applied. Then, I found out about it and emailed Sara Lilly and she said 'yeah – we can set up a zoom meeting and we would love to have you.' I thought it would be great to keep swimming and pursue my dream of becoming a physical therapist all in one place."
 
Added bonus – Kashikar's dance school is only about 45 minutes away in Dallas.
 
Kashikar said while swimming and balancing school, she wants to keep dancing and working towards her master's degree in Kathak.
 
"I just want to keep dancing," Kashikar said. "I don't know how long it is going to take me, because I have academic goals and career goals to do first, but as long as I get to keep dancing that's okay with me – even if it takes me 10 years to get that Master's. I don't think that's my end result - it's just furthering my knowledge."
 
Kashikar's ultimate career dream is to be a physical therapist.
 
"Ever since I was little I have been interested in movement – dance, gymnastics, swim – it just seemed natural to want to be a physical therapist," Kashikar said. "I just find the study of movement so fascinating, being an athlete and moving my body all the time. I love helping people, so it seemed like the perfect fit for me and taking classes this semester has really reaffirmed that this is for me, and I really want to do this, so that makes me super excited."
 
 Kashikar, a member of the inaugural Pioneer artistic swimming team, will swim in her first Collegiate Nationals this weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
 
"This season has been fast and furious," Kashikar said. "From back-to-back competitions and pool troubles, our team has worked hard to get to where we are right now. Heading into Collegiates is exciting since this is what we have been working towards since day one. We are stoked to show our improved routines and set a high standard for what it means to be a TWU artistic swimmer. The support from the TWU athletics department along with the whole student body has been incredible. We cannot wait to make everyone proud."
 
Kathak, swimming, physical therapy – all elements intertwined to form Kashikar's story; a story she still continues to write.