Mens Rea: The Shifter's Intent

Dance audiences won’t want to miss Raghav Handa’s anticipated new dance work, Mens rea: The Shifter’s Intent, at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts.

The Indian epic, Ramayana, provides the background for the high-concept work about shape-shifting, with the three principal characters’ changing intentions triggering physical and emotional transformations. Jatayu (a demi-god vulture) tries to rescue Sita, the wife of the god Rama, but suffers a cruel fate when Ravana (a shape-shifting demon) captures and mutilates him.

Handa’s Indian heritage influences his dance aesthetic, and he combines this with Australian Indigenous elements. He and his mentor, Marilyn Miller, visited Indigenous elders in far North Queensland’s communities of Laura and Yarrabah for research on ceremonies where the dancers wear feathers or the skin of their animal guardians.

The way they adopt the grace and form of the animal they become is a theme also explored in Mens rea: The Shifter’s Intent and has links to the original Ramayana story. To bring a 21st century sensibility to the performance, virtual characters also come to life onstage, thanks to Handa working with Melbourne’s Deakin Motion Lab.

The show has had critical acclaim, with Dance Informa Magazine calling it “mesmerising, powerful and hypnotic” while Dancing NSW praised Handa’s unique work in the current dance scene.

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By Vicki Englund

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