Where Movement Becomes Devotion

“Everything in Persian dance is poetry. Every movement describes a story, a feeling. The dancer takes the audience into a world of fairy tales.”
~ Farima Berenji

Poetry in Motion is interpretive, improvisational, and devotional dance form popularized by Farima Berenji that is inspired by mystical and classical Persian poetry. It originates from her research and life long experience in Persian sacred and classical dance.

Persian poetry contains spiritual messages representing the Divine essence. The words in Persian poetry speak to us, revealing the emotion of our soul. Persian poetry is rhythmic—it has an essence of melody, which guides us to dance. The great Persian poets extolled dance in their poems to symbolize the power of life. Hafiz, Saadi, Omar Khayyam, Attar, and Rumi each represented dance in their verses as a spiritual instrument to become one with the Divine.

Includes live music and lecture by Persian musician Nariman Assadi.

In this two hour workshop we will

• Discover Persian poetry mysticism and some of the fundamental Sufi poets of Iran and their perspectives on the divine love.
• Learn to bring the graceful words and symbols of Persian poetry to life.
• Move, write, and practice to various Persian poetry and poetic styles (working individually and as a group).
• Learn to use imagery from the verses of poetry for improvisation.
• Learn techniques to recite Persian Poetry, find hidden messages, and use it as guidance and healing.
• Create devotional dances and whirl to the sacred words of Persian Poetry (both in Farsi and English).
• Sing, chant, and dance either indoors or outdoors, and whirl into ecstasy by listening to beautiful live music and poetry.

Be sure to bring inspiring poetry, prose, or quotations to read and be ready to dance with others. Farima will help demonstrate movements, illustrate technique, and lead us in recitation of Persian poetry and Poetry in Motion.

Poetry in Motion is Farima’s signature workshop that matches Persian and Near Eastern sacred and mystical dance to poetry as a gateway for self-growth and spiritual transformation through movement, music, and moving meditation.

Registration

By online video conferencing. Register for video link.

Register

Farima Berenj

Farima Berenji is an Iranian-born scholar and an award winning, internationally acclaimed performing artist, choreographer, instructor, lecturer, dance ethnologist, 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. Farima performs, offers workshops, and lectures worldwide upon request and has appeared in the US, UK, Austria, Czech Republic, Turkey, Mauritius, and Iran. Read more..

Nariman Assadi

Nariman Assadi was born in Hamedan, Iran on January 1, 1992. Raised in Tehran, he always felt drawn to percussion instruments. At the age of thirteen, he began studying tombak under Master Amir Mogharab Samadi. From 2008 to 2013, Nariman performed at Vahdat Hall as a soloist and with the Persian Percussion Ensemble at Pars Academy, the premier music academy for children. After mastering tombak, he then began learning Daf under the great Master Bijan Kamkar. With a strong understanding of the daf and tombak, Nariman started learning barbat (Oud) under Master Mohammad Firouzi.

In 2015, Nariman immigrated to the United States. He immediately began his professional music career by performing and attending festivals. In 2017, he started learning percussion performance and world music with Professor Daniel Kennedy at Sacramento State University. Along with being a member of various ensembles, Nariman also teaches daf, tombak, and music for children. Read more..