Thread: Seeking info on Classical Persian Dance

I am preparing for the Desert Fire competition in about a month. My music..Niyaz - The Hunt. Costume...Persia 1250. Does any body have any good clips I can see or any instruction DVDs. There is an outstanding montage on youtube that features the Ballet Afseneh. It is done to the song I am refering to. It made my heart stop when I first saw/heard it. But I want more......g.: whatcha got....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSMA7eWZN74]YouTube - Persian Dance (Ballet Afsaneh)[/ame]

Laurel Victoria Gray and the Silk Road Dance Compnay in Washington DC is where my troupemate Neefa studied Persian dance.

Search You Tube for the Silk Road Dance Company and trying Google seaching images of Persian minatures of the time period.

Neefa also authored a Indo-Eurasian DVD with combinations she drew together from years of Uzbek, Persian and Indian dance...

Good luck!!

Bernie

Thanks for the good wishes "Neefa also authored a Indo-Eurasian DVD" Where can I get a hold of that? I have been on the Kennedy Center site and watched the performances they have there...some of them are quite long and very good!

I love watching the Silk Road!! I've known a couple of the dancers for a few years and was on my way to Central Asian Dance camp last year before it was cancelled, Doh!!

Neefa's video: IndoEurasian Combinations

The style of the video is much of what Khafif (my troupe) does...not all Persian all the time...lots of fusion...

Time to get your Naz on... :o) Here's a cool piece:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvG5cp5Q7is"]YouTube - Neefa's solo at Gulf Coast 2007[/ame]

B

Thank you so much. Just went there and did that! Wow...I am so isolated here that I thought I was the only one who had ever heard of Niyaz...I love Bhuz!!!!! Naz on...love it!

There's also Kathryn St. John in Utah. SLC I think, but I'm not sure.

Kawakib does a classical Persian dance at the beginning of "Lifting the Veil of Time" in case you had that DVD.

Btw..is there some place to go to get a translation of "the hunt"? Pretty soon yall gonna ask me if I got my own spit!

My first stop would be Robyn Friend. Website here:
Iranian dancing / Persian dancing / Persian singing

Best of luck with the project!

And your last line made me laugh out loud. Startled the kitten right off the keyboard! >^.^<

You must use your mouse a lot!

I was a smoker in South Carolina many years ago...it was the standard answer for do you have a light? that was given right after you bummed a smoke.... ;-}

Originally Posted by anala

You must use your mouse a lot!

I do...when I can get to it!

I'll never think of spit the same way again.

BTW..if you want a really good laugh, search "barbie head" and read Ozmas last comment in the pushing the envelope thread. I am still in tears over that and it was posted last night.

That song was gorgeous! You made a good decision choosing that song. I was also trying to find information on Persian dance. Your forum was right on time!
BernieV, I didn't even know there was a Persian dance company in my area. I need to get out more!
Thanks!

This will be danced in the "fusion" category. I know its not fusion...but I am just sick to death of the strained way that some dancers splice together unrelated dance forms and call it fusion. Its kinda like chocolate covered broccoli. Shure...you can do it, will it taste, look and smelll good....nah! There is such a rich dance history that remains unexplored in MED backyard that I could wander there for 20 lifetimes before I started fusing Bavarian Slap Dancing and belly dance....now watch somebody go do it. Like an H.P. Lovecraft novel...once its thought about and verbalized.... it enters reality. I am scared - really , really scared....

Alexandra King has a great workshop on classical Persian dance. Some of the things she covers are also on her Volume 3 DVD of "The Ancient Art of Oriental Belly Dance."

Thank you for that. I purchased the collection of her vids a few years back. I ordered them by phone and she was very kind and gracious. I asked her why she was not on the workshop circut and she said all a sponsor had to do was ask! So lets ask the people who put on seminars to include her. She is a wealth of knowlege.

Originally Posted by anala

Thank you for that. I purchased the collection of her vids a few years back. I ordered them by phone and she was very kind and gracious. I asked her why she was not on the workshop circut and she said all a sponsor had to do was ask! So lets ask the people who put on seminars to include her. She is a wealth of knowlege.

We had Alexandra King in Milwaukee this past May for two workshops. She was wonderful!

Thats wonderful....I am so jealous! She is just accross the border from me...but I have never had the chance to take a lesson.

Anala, IIRC her website says she's coming to New Mexico in April.

iloveyou

Date and Time
April 25, 26 & 27
Location
Floralia Festival presented by Ancient Art Productions at New Mexico
Registration
Contact seleenakareen@yahoo.com

Originally Posted by anala

iloveyou

hehe...You're welcome. I hope she's out this way again sometime soon. She was fabulous and what a show!

I second the Robyn Friend recommendation. A rare combination of artist and scholar and a good teacher too.

she's out of britain, i think, but medea mahdavi is really good........she came in to teach for morocco's week long, but very knowledgeable, beautiful and BRUTAL :D