Join us for an afternoon 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
All are welcome!
Join
Please consider making a donation at http://donate.farimadance.com to support our artists below
Simorgh Dance Collective
Simorgh Dance Collective
The Simorgh Dance Collective is a world community of artists devoted to cross-cultural dialogue and artistic collaboration through traditional, classical, and sacred dance styles of the Silk Road. The Collective currently has member companies and artist affiliations in Alaska, British Columbia, Turkey, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Read more..Eastern Arts
Eastern Arts
Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Eastern Arts is a non-profit organization of dancers, artists, musicians, and scholars who present the folkways and traditions of many lands and peoples. Eastern Arts originated in 1960 and has been active internationally presenting dance and music of lands from Asia to North Africa, from India to the Balkans in concerts, workshops, publications, audio and video productions.
Farima Berenji
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).
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Dr. Lloyd Miller
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.
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Katherine St. John
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.
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Seyed Salman Hosseini
Seyed Salman
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.
Dr. Mehravar Sorush Kaboli
Dr. Mehravar Sorush Kaboli
We are also very privileged to have Dr. Mehravar Sorush Kaboli as guest speaker. Dr. Sorush Kaboli is a scholar of Iranic Studies and Mythology and Zoroastrianism. Her doctoral thesis was on the Gathas of Zoroaster.
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