US-based Hindu statesman Rajan Zed released a statement on Sunday 14 January urging the West Australian Ballet to drop La Bayadère, a 1877 work created by French choreographer Marius Petipa, on the grounds that it ‘seriously trivialises Eastern religions and other traditions’.
Zed is President of the Universal Society of Hinduism and has been vocal in the call to withdraw the ballet from the world stage, among other concerns associated with the Hindu community globally.