Join us for an evening celebrating Norouz, the coming of Spring!

Norouz is the traditional spring and new year celebration of the Persian and Central Asian people. Norouz means “New Day” and it falls on the March equinox, the first day of spring. Families on Norouz gather together and wait for the exact time it is declared, exchange gifts and eat a feast of traditional food. It’s a time to celebrate ancestry and family. Norouz has been celebrated by people from diverse ethnic communities and religious backgrounds for thousands of years.

Presented by the Simorgh Dance Collective and Eastern Arts, activities for our online gathering will include:

• Traditional performances of sacred, classical, and folkloric dances of the Silk Road
• Live traditional Persian music
• Story telling and lectures of Norouz and rituals across the Silk Road
• Poetry reading
• Dance and music workshops

All are welcome! Please register in advance to obtain a link to the online presentation.

Register

Please consider making a donation at http://donate.farimadance.com to support our artists below

Simorgh Dance Collective

Eastern Arts

Farima Berenji

Farima Berenji is an Iranian-born scholar and an award winning, internationally acclaimed performing artist, choreographer, instructor, lecturer, dance ethnologist, Sufi master, and archaeologist specializing in classical, folkloric, and sacred dances of Persia and the Silk Road. Her training spans a lifetime of intensive collaboration and research with master artists, scholars, and spiritual teachers worldwide. She is the founder and artistic director of the Simorgh Dance Collective, a worldwide collaborative devoted to teach dance technique, interpret, illustrate, present, and perform dances of the Silk Road. In 2018, Farima became the first American-Iranian woman honored to be a TEDx dance speaker and performer. Farima is a member of the International Dance Council (CID – UNESCO), UNESCO, and the National Folk Organization (NFO). Read more..

Dr. Lloyd Miller

Dr. Lloyd Miller received his PhD in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Utah after spending seven years living in Iran where he had a weekly prime time television program titled “Kurosh Ali Khan va dastan”. His program featured musicians and other artists from around the world. Lloyd was urged to leave Iran during the revolution in the late 70s, though he had never planned to leave. An expert in world music including American jazz, Lloyd has made numerous recordings. The most popular being “Oriental Jazz” first released in 1968 and recently re-released by Vinyl Me Please selling thousands of copies worldwide. A film about Lloyd’s extraordinary life, including 6 years in Europe as a jazzman and university student where he played with some of the most well-known musicians of the time, is soon to be released. Titled “” the film will be screened in Finland October 25 at the World Music Expo. It was in Paris that Lloyd met Dr. Daryush Safvat who became his lifelong mentor and who taught Lloyd the importance and significance of Persian classical music. Founder of Eastern Arts, with the blessing of Dr. Safvat, Lloyd has taught music, philosophy, history, dance and culture to thousands of students at various universities for over 40 years. Read more…

Katherine St. John

Katherine St. John received a Master’s degree in dance pedagogy from Brigham Young University and a Master’s in Persian from the University of Utah and completed coursework for a PhD in dance history and theory from the University of California. Katherine has performed and choreographed for theater, dance companies, operas and at universities for 30 plus years. She was an artist in residence teaching world dance to students throughout Utah and neighboring states for 20 years. Her Master’s thesis is about dance in Herat Afghanistan from 1970-1980 during Russian interference. Read more..

Rashid Sadat

Rashid Sadat is a well-known performer, originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. His work in Central Asia included lead roles in popular films during early 2000’s, plus regular TV appearances and as a daily radio host on Auto Radio Hamroh FM102. With over 10 years of theatre experience including acting and directing, Rashid is also a well known folk dancer, having performed at dance and music festivals in London, Sweden, Greece, and Germany. Now living in London, Rashid has expanded his portfolio to include work as an extra in big budget films. In 2015 alone he worked on Spectre (James Bond), Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, and others. In addition to film, Rashid is also well known in London as a host for cultural and arts events, and starred in his own one-man show, Dervish, at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre in 2012.

Seyed Salman Hosseini

Seyed Salman Hosseini possesses a bachelor degree in music ethnology and is an Iranian traditional music researcher, composer and a master musician of tambour, setar, tar, and rebab. He directs the traditional Persian music ensemble Cherikeh which has been performing sacred and traditional music for many years. Seyed has produced many albums including Javdanegni and Tabeh Ghaleh. He is the music director and composer for films such as Song of God and Gadam Yar. Seyed has composed and performed more than 40 concerts and TV programs including composing music for national broadcasts of Iran. He has performed professionally in Iran, Germany, Syria, and the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Additionally, he is a Sufi master and has his own school of music and mysticism.

Homeyra Banejad

Homeyra Banejad is an Iranian daf player and vocalist. As a member of the Iranian Musician Union of Iran she has performed in Iran and the US with Sima Bina, Hamed Nikpay, Simin Ghanem, and many more artists!