Shahrzad Dance Academy (SDA) in Richmond, California, is a non-profit organization with a mission to bring cultural arts to the community. Shahrzad Khorsandi, Artistic and Executive Director, says that although they stopped teaching children and placed their focus on teaching Persian dance to adults, they will soon be teaching younger students again. They also provide Persian dance demonstrations along with instructional lectures at schools and libraries, performances at various events, and instructional and performance DVDs of Persian dance.
They also have a professional dance company dedicated to exploring the boundaries of artistic expression through movement while staying true to the essence of traditional Persian aesthetics. Under the artistic direction of Shahrzad Khorsandi, SDA performs both locally and internationally at various events such as cultural festivals, school and library educational programs, and formal concerts. Please contact us to book an event, enroll in classes, or audition for the company.
SDA stands out among other dance studios because it focuses on cultural Persian dance which is an extremely rare dance style. Most people do not know anything about it. Shahrzad has created her own codified format for teaching this technique.
Drawing upon her deep familiarity of authentic Persian dance, her formal dance training, and her intrinsic knowledge of Persian aesthetics, Shahrzad is a pioneer in Persian dance and quite possibly the first to create a formalized dance vocabulary and structure for Persian dance, helping in the artistic development and dissemination of an art form that has been outlawed in Iran for the past three decades. Her system includes the introduction of fundamental Persian body positions and movement, categorization and designation of nomenclature to movements, assembly of movement into choreographed phrases, and composition of dance pieces woven intricately with Persian music.
Shahrzad Drawing upon her deep familiarity of authentic Persian dance, her formal dance training, and her intrinsic knowledge of Persian aesthetics calligraphy, painting, and poetry, seamlessly weaving these art forms into the flow of movement and incorporating them into the oneness of the body with music. Creating innovative, conceptual themes and complex movement patterns, Shahrzad has managed to capture & combine the unleashed expression of contemporary dance with the refined and poetically potent aesthetics of an ancient culture, creating her own unique style of dance. Her unique approach to creating Persian dance pieces has prompted Shahrzad to identify her dance style as Contemporary Persian Ballet.
SDA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded by Shahrzad Khorsandi in 1996. The academy is a cultural training ground, using a structured curriculum of traditional Persian movement as a cultural foundation, while providing the space to artistically explore choreography in contemporary Persian dance. SDA often hosts classes and workshops in classical and contemporary Persian dance for serious dancers and dance scholars taught by Shahrzad, as well as performances by Shahrzad Dance Company. SDA also produces Persian dance instructional and performance DVDs.
SDA survives and thrives on tax-deductible donations from individuals and corporations. All donations and fees from classes and performances go toward SDA’s non-profit mission, to bring exposure to the art of Persian dance through education and performance. You can make a tax-deductible donation online or by mail, and SDA will mail you an official letter for your tax deduction! To purchase products or to make a tax-deductible donation to Shahrzad Dance Academy, you can do so online or you can mail a check (payable to “SDA”) to: SDA, 6262 Bernhard Avenue, Richmond, California 94805. Also, we are excited to announce that they have now made it easier for you to support us while shopping online with Amazon! Amazon will donate .5% of sales when you use the link provided on SDA’s website.
Shahrzad’s proudest moments as a dance teacher come while watching her students have breakthroughs in understanding movement and achieving goals.
The biggest mistake Shahrzad has seen dancers make is spending so much time focusing on executing the correct technique that they lose their self-expression.
Shahrzad’s goal for SDA this year is to bring in enough funds to ensure a great annual dance concert with new costumes.
Shahrzad’s purpose in starting a studio was to disseminate a rare art form. Drawing upon her deep familiarity of authentic Persian dance, her formal dance training, and her intrinsic knowledge of Persian aesthetics, Shahrzad is a pioneer in Persian dance and quite possibly the first to create a formalized dance vocabulary and structure for Persian dance, helping in the artistic development and dissemination of an art form that has been outlawed in Iran for the past three decades. Her system includes the introduction of fundamental Persian body positions and movement, categorization and designation of nomenclature to movements, assembly of movement into choreographed phrases, and composition of dance pieces woven intricately with Persian music. Her unique approach to creating Persian dance pieces has prompted Shahrzad to identify her dance style as Contemporary Persian Ballet.
The art of Persian dance is a dance form that any dancer can benefit from. It uses muscles that many dancers do not get the opportunity to use while learning Western style dances. It helps dancers achieve sophisticated, subtle, layered movements that are expressive and yet internal.
Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Shahrzad Dance Academy or Shahrzad Khorsandi.
If you would like to know more about Shahrzad Dance Academy, check them out on their website at http://dancepersian.org. Also, you could call them at 510-672-0647 or email them at info@dancepersian.org. Don’t forget to “Like” them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter or view them on YouTube.
