Join us for an evening celebrating Yalda (winter solstice), the longest night of the year and the birth of Mithra.
Shab-e Yalda (Yalda Night) is the Persian Winter Solstice Celebration on the eve of the Winter Solstice. The Persians believed that this night is the night of the birth of Ahura Mazda and Mithra, Persian God of Light and Truth. He was born on the morning of the longest night of the year.
Presented by Eastern Arts and the Simorgh Dance Collective, this first annual online gathering will be accompanied by music, dance, poetry reading, Persian mythology and stories, and more! Portions are recorded and live.
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
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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