Persian Dance

In the first hour of class students will learn technique for classical, folkloric and contemporary Persian dance. Persian Classical dance is inspired by Persian poetry and miniature artwork. Movements often reflect the swirling Arabesques, fluid and highly detailed movements seen in Persian Miniature artwork. Characteristic movements include intricate hand and arm movements, sweeping gestures, shoulder isolations, footwork patterns and spins. The second hour of class will focus on choreography and the art of improvisation within the Persian dance structure.

Miriam Peretz

Miriam Peretz is an internationally acclaimed performing artist and instructor specializing in traditional dances from the Silk Road (Persia and Central Asia,) the Middle-East, ethno-contemporary dance and many forms of sacred dance.

Miriam was a principle dancer with “Inbal” Ethnic Dance Theater (Tel Aviv, Israel) Wan-Chao Dance company (Bay Area, California) and served as assistant artistic director of “Ballet Afsaneh” (Bay Area, California) for five years. She also worked with Ballet Afsaneh as a featured soloist, and set numerous choreographies on the company over the twelve-year span she was involved with the company. Miriam has been a featured soloist throughout the U.S., South America, Europe, and Israel. She has been chosen by the highly selective San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival (2005, 2008,) to present solo works.

As an instructor, Miriam is highly sought after internationally for workshops and classes. She has set choreographies on numerous dance companies in the U.S., Europe and Israel. Over the past ten years of her teaching career Miriam has developed a unique teaching format for Persian & Central Asian dance. Her class format, Sacred Dance of the Silk Road focuses on traditional dances from Persia, and all of the Silk Road regions (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan) while at the same time incorporating a very contemporary dance approach as well as ritualistic, sacred circle dances. Her unique format has gained huge popularity in the Bay Area California, and is now beginning to grow in Israel as well as in Europe.