Dancing Against Violence

	Members of the Diversity Dance Theatre

Vanessa Welbourn    May 4th 2001

The mother of a murdered Sydney schoolboy has lent her support to an educational dance group committed to working against violence.

Ruby Kargarian's seventeen-year-old son, Shahab, was shot dead in a Greenwich park last October. She has spent the last two months promoting the recently formed Diversity Dance Theatre of Australia.

"My son's potential was destroyed by a senseless act of violence. I now have a duty to help give other people's children the chance to realise their potential," she says.

Ruby was drawn to the project because of the group’s strong educational focus, which encourages young people to challenge various anti-social behaviours she fears are becoming accepted as normal.

The group is made up of nine performers from around the world aged between 17 and 24. The performers are all of the Baha'i faith and are sponsored by their communities to participate in the Australian Diversity Dance Theatre, which is an offshoot of an American youth theatre movement.

Earlier this year, the troupe toured schools and community centres in regional Queensland and NSW, exploring social issues such as drug abuse, domestic violence, racism and poverty.

Twenty-four-year-old dancer Gowhar Mihrshahi, of Carlingford, says of the troupe's aims: "We hope our audience will get an awareness that these problems exist and that they can be overcome if people work together… We are dancing for a violence-free society. We are dancing against these problems."

Ruby spread the group's message to more than 30 Sydney high schools and youth organisations ahead of its final Australian performance at UTS Kuring-gai in April, dedicated in memory of Shahab.

Ruby believes acts of violence like the one that killed Shahab result from a combination of negative influences and experiences in a young person's life. She says that only grass roots' change can break the cycle of unhappiness entrapping many people.

"There is no one single act by one single person that will eliminate violence from our society. Violence affects us all," she says.

Ruby sees her family's grief within the context of a wider pool of suffering in the community and says that the two men facing court over Shahab's death are also victims of society's failings.

"I can't hate the people who did this [to Shahab]. You shouldn't judge people. Understand them, don't judge them," she says.

Ruby's pleas for understanding and tolerance echo the values that Shahab tried to live by.

When applying to take part in a student cross-cultural exchange program shortly before his death, Shahab named Baha'i prophet Abdu'l-Baha as his role model. Shahab wrote of him: "He is humble, considerate, kind, compassionate, patient, truthful, trustful and any virtues you can think of. I want to emulate him … and I strive every day to do one better than the other day."

Ruby says the power of prayer and the support of Sydney's Baha'i community have been invaluable in helping her family cope with its loss.

But most of all she draws courage and inspiration from Shahab himself.

"My son tried to make a difference in society. He showed it in the way he acted with his friends... He touched everybody’s hearts when he was alive. That’s why I know that everything I do makes a difference," she says.

Gowhar says the value of the Kargarian family’s contribution to the dance project has been immeasurable. "They have such pure hearts that whatever they do is successful. They really practise what they believe in. This is something which has really inspired me," she says.