NAMAH

, in the pre-sanskrit language of Avesta means reverence and greeting. Since 1994 the non-profit company has created an exciting body of work, igniting rigorous dance technique with powerful ancient mysticism. Led by dancer/choreographer Banafsheh Sayyad, NAMAH has toured annually throughout North America and Europe from 2003-2007,  and recently performed in Australia and New Zealand. Described as “the perfect way to open ritual aspects of Persian dance to a wider audience while preserving the sense of participating in something sacred” (LA Weekly), the company has become internationally known for its innovative movement vocabulary and high artistic and educational standards.

Banafsheh Sayyad and Irene Masharo established NAMAH with the aim to express the ancient within the contemporary and the sacred within dance —finding a language that would communicate the Persian mystical  tradition universally to all regardless of cultural background. In 1998, Pejman Hadadi, the virtuoso Persian percussionist and two-time recipient of the Durfee Foundation Master Musician Fellowship Award became the resident composer of NAMAH. Since then, Banafsheh and Pejman have created a number of dance and percussion duets as well as ensemble pieces featuring other accomplished performers including Pejman's highly acclaimed ensemble, ZARBANG.

Over the last few years, NAMAH has been presented by major festivals and world dance presenters in the US and Europe, performing in spaces ranging from prestigious concert halls like the San Jose Performing Arts Center; Eisemann Center in Dallas, Texas; the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England; Mercat de Les Flors in Barcelona, Spain; and the Chan Centre in Vancouver, B.C. to experimental theaters like the Dance Center of Columbia College, Cambridge Multicultural Center in Boston; the Redcat Theater and Highways Performance Space dedicated to presenting contemporary cutting edge work in Los Angeles. NAMAH has also been presented twice at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In 2008, the company was invited for a residency at the Dance Center of Columbia College where they performed for 3 shows. In 2007, NAMAH completed its third annual North American tour of Spring Comes with Violets where they performed before sold-out audiences in 27 cities. In 2005 and 2006, Spring Comes with Violets was also performed in Europe and Australia. In April 2003, NAMAH was invited to Daytona Beach, FL  by the Iranian American Society for a week-long residency which included classes and lecture/demonstrations at local K-12 schools and colleges, culminating in performances at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach. In 2002, NAMAH performed on a three-week tour of Norway funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture.

NAMAH’s extensive community education/outreach program offers classes and workshops for adults and children in Mystical Persian Dance. These workshops work very well in conjunction with NAMAH concerts, to be presented the day after the performance. The artists also engage in Lecture Demonstrations on Persian Dance, Music and Sufism.

Banafsheh Sayyad and NAMAH offer solo and ensemble work of up to five dancers with or without live music.

In calling ourselves NAMAH, we revere paradox - the paradox of navigating in an unseen world, of manifesting the thread of infinity, which runs through a finite fleeting body, and its inverse… of uncovering the fact of structure and order emergent within ecstatic, limitless states.

Fiercely delicate our movements and sounds coded with the tradition of a distant yet palpable land vibrate, contort, flow and traverse boundaries of cultural specificity to give homage to vastness. With our learning and our passion we come to greet the unknown.