Mallika Sarabhai in SVA Kranti: The Revolution Within at Footscray Community Arts Centre for Asia TOPA, February 28 & 29. Tickets here.
Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of Ahimsa (peace) and Satyagraha (non-violence) were guiding forces in India’s freedom struggle against the British rule. Gandhi, like all characters in history, must also be remembered in his totality—flaws and all—but his vision for a total transformation of India has never been more urgent. In SVA KRANTI: The Revolution Within, artist-activist Mallika Sarabhai is seen in conversation with Gandhi – sharing, recounting and lamenting the many injustices faced by women in contemporary India. Women are not only othered on the basis of gender, but also on the basis of religion, caste, class, sexual orientation, ability and tradition. As is said: violence against women in India spans the entire lifecycle, from the womb to the tomb.
In SVA KRANTI: The Revolution Within, Sarabhai uses dance, theatre, storytelling and multimedia to challenge the implications of Gandhi’s teachings to the experiences of women in 21st century India. When Sarabhai and I were in talks curating this work for Asia TOPA, we couldn’t have imagined the urgency with which this work needs to be seen.
Right now, in India, pro and anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), NRC (National Register of Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register) protests are spreading like wildfire. These protests are either in support for or opposition of legislation that fundamentally denies the democratic rights of marginalised Indians. In Shaheen Bagh, it is the women who have garnered global attention for their peaceful, non-violent, 24/7 anti-CAA sit-in on a highway in Delhi’s unforgiving winter. They recite the slogans of India’s freedom struggle, defending their ‘haq’, their ‘adhikar’, their right – all in the name of our tricolour flag and our self-determined ‘azaadi’, our collective freedom. Gender roles are completely subverted in this space. Sarabhai remains one of the foremost advocates for the secular fabric of India. In 2002, she filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court against the then-Chief Minister of her state in the wake of the Godhra riots.
Sarabhai’s feminist work spans from playing the fiery and feisty Draupadi in Peter Brook’s Mahabharata, to her solo and ensemble works Shakti: The Power of Woman, Sita’s Daughters, Devi Mahatmaya: The Journey Inward, Unsuni: Unheard Voices, The Bird in My Ceiling, amongst others. Her performance worlds carve a niche where the woman is never the passive object, but always the active subject. At a time when classical Indian dance both in the subcontinent and the diaspora is slammed for its indifference toward civic injustice, Sarabhai’s work remains a breath of fresh air: her performances are inseparable from her politics.
Although this approach has won her fans the world over, that is not to say that any of it has been a smooth journey. In the post-show conversation, Sarabhai will candidly share what it means to have gone from being the darling daughter of the nation to the enemy of the state, as well as what is at stake for women in India today.
Mallika Sarabhai in SVA Kranti: The Revolution Within at Footscray Community Arts Centre for Asia TOPA, February 28 & 29. Tickets here.
Other engagements:
Dancing Democracy // Choreographing Protest movement workshop at Temperance Hall for Asia TOPA. Tickets here.
Re-imagining Dance: Brown Bodies on the Global Stage panel at Information and Cultural Exchange, Parramatta. Tickets here.
