About
Iranian Dance
Iranian national dance (or so-called classical) is a movement system, created during nation state building in Iran in 70s. It borrowed elements from diverse folkloric dances of Iran, social dancing and other forms of Iranian art; like miniature paintings, calligraphy and poetry. Smoothness in performing the movements and musicality are the fundamental features, while elegant hand and shoulder gestures and specific facial expressions are the specifications of this dance.
Many practitioners try to be fiddle to the Iranian classical music (Dastgāh musical system), while new generation of performers prefer to use the more modern versions which goes beyond its classical forms and explore new modes.
Photo credit: Mohammad Khodadadash
About
Hediyeh Azma
Hediyeh is an Iranian dancer, pedagog and choreographer based in Norway. She received prizes such as best performer and best director among others.
She began dancing and trained in the classical Iranian national (so/called classical) dance at the age of 12. Continued attending for 13 years, she also knows some folkloric dances beside receiving trainings in ballet.
She established her dance ensemble named Deir in 2012 until she immigrated for her Masters to Norway in 2016.
Hediyeh Holds an MA in Dance-anthropology from a consortium of four European universities (NTNU, SZG, UCL, Roehampton). Her main interest lays in site-specific and audience participatory forms of performance. Currently she is a member of Tan-Nava dance/music ensemble in Norway. Also, owns a dance company with her own name.