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Defining Features of the Ganesh Statue:  Ganesh is swirling in His father Shiva's dance of destruction and creation; The dance of Lord Nataraja!  His large form is perfectly balanced on one foot with all His arms spread out like the rays of the sun.  In Ganesh's 16 hands He holds, going clockwise from his bottom right hand in the abhaya mudra, His tusk, an axe, discus, club, knife, elephant goad, arrow, bow, noose, shield, trident, conch, ball of sweets, and a lotus flower.  His magnificent trunk is held up in front of his chest much like the front arm of Nataraja.  There is a small bell tied around His trunk.  Ganesh dances above the body of the demon, Apasmara, whom he has killed; in this role he is called Natesa.  Apasmara, the dwarf demon, represents ignorance.  Apasmara holds a cobra and a knife.  The cobra is typically a symbol of Shiva.  The cobra symbolizes the Hindu dogma of reincarnation. Their natural process of molting or shedding their skin is symbolic of the human souls transmigration of bodies from one life to another. Ganesh also wears a cobra belt around his vast belly. 

The symbolism behind the dance of Nataraja  The significance of the Nataraja sculpture is said to be that Shiva is shown as the source of all movement within the cosmos, represented by the arch of flames. The purpose of the dance is to release men from illusion of the idea of the "self" and of the physical world. The cosmic dance was performed in Chidambaram in South India, called the center of the universe by some Hindus. The gestures of the dance represent Shiva's five activities, creation (symbolized by the drum), protection (by the "fear not" hand gesture), destruction (by the fire), embodiment (by the foot planted on the ground), and release (by the foot held aloft).