Shahrzad Khorsandi

Shahrzad Khorsandi is a contemporary dancer and choreographer and the artistic director of Shahrzad Dance Company. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up doing Iranian/Persian social dance. She immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1980, during the Iranian political revolution. She has a BA in Dance and an MA in Creative Arts from SFSU and has been dance faculty at various Bay Area colleges and universities. She has dedicated nearly three decades to exploring Iranian dance as an art form. During this time she has taken several trips to Iran, the first one being an emotional catalyst and the spark that led to a deeper understanding of herself as an artist. This unfolded the path to developing her unique technique and choreographic voice. Shahrzad's work shows the intricate subtleties and organic flow of movement and the oneness of the body with music. Drawing upon Iranian cultural aesthetics and her skill of movement analysis, Shahrzad has developed a pedagogy, including a fundamental movement vocabulary for teaching Persian/Iranian dance, helping in the artistic development and dissemination of an art form that continues to face social and political obstacles. She has documented this format in her book, The Art of Persian Dance (2015). Shahrzad’s choreographies use universal concepts and engaging movement compositions woven intricately with Persian/Iranian music, staying true to the Iranian cultural essence. Her mission is to educate the public about this dance as a dynamic and expressive art form, high in artistic integrity as well as ancient beauty. Beyond that, Shahrzad uses dance to teach and promote humanity. She works with children of all spectrums in schools, using dance as a tool for teaching positive self-concept and creative collaboration. She works with an international research team, studying the effects of dance on the brain. She firmly believes that dancing can have a positive effect on hormonal balance and therefore on emotional health,