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A two-hour panel discussion on displacement and creativity
with five prominent Iranian-American artists took place
at LACMA's Leo S. Bing Theater on Saturday, May 17,
coinciding with the current exhibition, "The Legacy
of Genghis Khan," which runs through July 7.
The panel discussion was moderated by author, photographer
and educator Janet Sternburg and began with musician
Haale Gafori, who performed three songs accompanied
by tabla-like drums and a setar, which she played as
she sang. Her voice was hypnotic, as it paired with
the rhythm of the ancient Middle-Eastern instruments,
leaving the audience in an ethereal trance. Her melodies
were reminiscent of the world music of Dead Can Dance,
but she made it her own. After her performance, Haale
commented that she considers her music to be "global,"
yet when she finally discovered her voice and started
to open her soul to
the music within her, she found it was indeed, Persian.
Next, filmmaker Aryana Farshad showed clips of her
visually stunning film, "Mystic Iran, the Unseen
World" which documents her nine-month journey into
the heart of Iran. The film explores ancient rituals
and rites while showing modern day Iranian society.
Aryana explained that this project was a personal one
because she wanted to revisit her past. The panel artists
agreed that this "modern day" Iran was not
the
Iran they remembered. Author Gina Nahai said that the
Iran she remembers is still alive in her mind and in
her heart. She read from her latest critically aclaimed
novel, "Sunday's Silence," a poetic and rich
work that explores displacement and reveals the loss
and longing that comes with moving to a strange land.
Artist Fariba Hajamadi spoke over a presentation of
color slides of her work. Most were expressionist pieces,
which incorporated color, photo manipulations and sculpture,
tricking the eye into believing the visions are real.
Nude torsos were set in abstract backgrounds, with super-imposed
images.
The last performer was dancer Banafsheh
Sayyad, who performed solo, accompanied by a persian
instrumental, with dubbed narration. She was dressed
in sheer pale orange and yellow fabric that flowed magically
with her precise and perfect movements. A fusion of
Persian Dance, Sufi Ritual and Flamenco,
Banafesheh's dancing is mystical and almost tribal,
as she spinned effortlessly like a whirling dervish,
her hair flowing wildly behind her in a mesmerizing
fashion. The introduction to Banafsheh revealed that
she has remarkably translated the Persian alphabet into
gestures and movement and by putting these movements
together, she is able to dance out words and poetic
stanzas, oftentaken from the works
of the
legendary poet Rumi.
| Janet
Sternburg's eloquent introductions to each artist
provided a perfect segueway to the performances.
Ms. Sternburg is the author of "Phantom Limb,"
a life-altering journey dealing with love and loss,
and human vulnerability in the face of life's unpredictability.
The producer of this insightful event was Mina Eghbal.
For more information on the upcoming Festival
of Persian Music and Dance on Saturday, June 7
at the Leo S. Bing Theater at LACMA please visit
www.lacma.org.
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PROFILE OF AN ARTIST
BANAFSHEH SAYYAD
Artistic Director, Choreographer, Dancer
Banafsheh Sayyad established Namah Ensemble
in 1994 in San Francisco, California. Since then, her
work has appeared in numerous stage and television productions
as well as international festivals. Born in Tehran,
Iran, Sayyad began dancing at a very young age. In the
US, she began studying Flamenco in 1987 with Antonia
Rojas of The Jose Greco Dance Company, and within one
year joined the newly formed Antonia Rojas Spanish Dance
Theater based in Los Angeles. One year later, she was
a soloist, performing and choreographing works that
merged Flamenco with Middle Eastern elements. She appeared
in numerous shows around California including the Ethnic
Dance Festival at Irvine Barclay.
With the aim of expressing more of her
own Persian cultural and spiritual heritage, she left
the company to form her own group, Namah Ensemble. As
a choreographer and dancer, Sayyad is interested in
communicating ancient ideas and beliefs on a physically
explosive yet quietly intuitive way. She makes dances
that fuse her extensive background in Flamenco, Tai
Chi and Persian Dance, with Eastern practices and teachings.
Her aim is to unify technical expertise with internal
awareness to create work that bridge deep age-old ideas
with the contemporary world. Sayyad’s movement is comprised
in part by the Persian alphabet that she has translated
into gestures and movement. By putting the gestures
and movements together, she is able to dance out words
and poetic stanzas, often taken from the works of Jalaledin
Rumi.
Sayyad’s evening length work, Amvaaj,
a journey of spiritual seekers in seven stages set to
live music, was one of the few dance events in the World
Festival of Sacred Music as well as the 1st Annual UK
Classical Persian Music & Dance Festival held in
London in October 2000. Amvaaj, which met with both
critical and audience acclaim, brought together elements
from Sufi ritual, Islamic practice and traditional dance
with modern and improvisational technique. For the first
time, world-renowned Persian musicians collaborated
with dancers. Amvaaj has now been performed in Los Angeles,
San Diego, San Francisco, Hamburg, Cologne & London
before full-capacity houses. Sayyad’s later works Najva
and Nava & Namah have been performed in Los Angeles,
Bay Area and Seattle, WA.
In April year 2002, Sayyad and members
of Namah Ensemble were invited to perform before an
audience of 5000 people in the Dimensions Performing
Arts’ production of the Silk Road in two engagements
at the San Jose Performing Arts Center. In June 2002,
she and Namah Ensemble were invited to perform at the
prestigious San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival for
the second time. Her two pieces set to live music met
with great critical acclaim. Later in 2002, Sayyad was
invited to Norway with members of Namah to choreograph
and perform in Asian Caravan, which featured musicians
and dancers from Iran, China and India. Asian Caravan
was performed in six cities in Norway as part of a three-week
tour funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Arts and Culture.
Her most recent work, En/trance, a collaborative
work with Zarbang Ensemble was toured in the US in April
of 2003, meeting with great audience and critical acclaim,
setting a new standard for Persian dance and music presentation.
Sayyad studied in the MFA program in
Dance at UCLA and has taught Persian Dance at the university,
colleges, public and private schools as well as private
studios. A licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, Sayyad
is interested in the healing dimensions of dance and
music. She is the recipient of the Jean Erwin and the
Elaine Klein Crown Scholarships for Excellence in the
Fine Arts and has received The Shiraz Medical School
Society Award and The Fifth Festival of Iranian Theater
Award in Hamburg for her work, Amvaaj.
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