Natalie Nayun

Natalie is an international teacher and performer specializing in contemporary and folkloric styles from Central Asia and the Middle East. She has been dancing for over 20 years and teaching for over 15 years. She is lucky enough to have studied dance in her travels to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Oman. She is a well known soloist and the Assistant Director of Ballet Afsaneh. She is also a choreographer for the UC Berkeley Central Asian and Middle Eastern Dance Company, Sorayya and former director of Adara Dance Company. She has received numerous grants and awards for her research and dance studies including the HAAS Scholar award, CLS, FLAS Award for Persian Language study, Mask & Dagger Memorial Prize for Extraordinary Contributions and more. During her travels she has done residencies with dance companies in both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and travels to these countries every other year to work with companies, conduct research and dance daily. She is grateful to her teachers Faroghat Saidova, Salomat Raxmonova, Dilorom Madraximova, Gulmira Madraximova, Safarbeki Rachabzoda, Robyn Friend, Helia Bandeh and many more for sharing their deep knowledge and love of dance. Natalie has performed and taught dance in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Palestine/Israel, New Mexico, as well as locally in California at UC Berkeley and as a guest lecturer at Stanford. She currently teaches dance through Afsaneh Dance Academy and DanceVersity. Her hope is to share the beauty in these regions of the world through dance.