Raghav Handa is on a mission – to inform the world that fascism stole a key component of his identity. How do I shed light on a symbol which many – perhaps most – people regard as evil, he asks. If he fails to start this conversation, about reclaiming a stolen symbol, the usurper wins, is his concern. And the language he uses to put his case – contemporary dance.
The symbol to which Handa is referring has been not merely appropriated and hijacked, but misused and abused. It is the swastika, which has represented peace and new beginnings to millions of Hindus and Buddhists across India and indeed Asia for thousands of years.
“For Hindu and Buddhist peoples the swastika is sacred and ubiquitous,” writes Handa, a Sydney-based dancer and choreographer. “Across India, it is found in front of every household, shop; in temples, altars and on wedding invitations. The swastika, for my family, represents the architecture of the universe. For us, in the swastika’s mystical geometry lies the meta key which opens the door of every physical science and concept of spirituality. The treasure of this knowledge is passed down through my family as a set of silver coins.”
Handa breathed life into his ambitious mission at Sydney’s Carriageworks Theatre recently. His carefully thought-out production, Cult of the Titans, was a compelling piece of contemporary dance which depicted an epic battle between Good and Evil, between those for whom the swastika represents all that is positive in the world and the demonic forces which twisted it on its axis and perverted it to become representative of Nazi Germany and synonymous with the worst excesses of cruelty of which humankind is capable.
Read the article by Vic Alhadeff in The Australian.