GASTON, Dr. Anne-Marie (née Groves), who performed under the stage name of ‘Anjali’, died July 6, 1941 April 5, 2018. She was dancer, choreographer, writer, photographer, lecturer, teacher and traveller: Beloved wife and sister. Anne-Marie was born, raised, educated (at Lisgar Collegiate, where she was head girl) and died in Ottawa. She did her first degree at Queen’s University and subsequently earned two post-graduate degrees (M.Litt., D.Phil) at Oxford University, UK.
During her life, Anne-Marie spent many years in India and UK, as well as traveling throughout the world observing and studying local cultures and languages. She was an internationally recognised performer, choreographer and teacher of East Indian classical dances. She held a Ph.D. in South Asian Artistic Traditions from Oxford University. Her studies bring an authenticity to her work, which presented, with beauty, humour and depth, some of the most compelling issues of our time. Her mixed-media events transcended cultural barriers, making them “an evening of pure pleasure“.
She was the first native-born Canadian to perform Classical East Indian Dance professionally and over the years she performed for tens of thousands throughout Canada, US, Europe and India, including Prime Ministers Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Indira Gandhi. Fearless and indomitably cheerful, she continued her research on Indian classical dances to within two weeks of her death. She passed away peacefully, at home in New Edinburgh, surrounded by family and friends. In memoriam donations to Myeloma Canada would be highly appreciated.