Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam is an Iranian dancer and choreographer based in Paris. He came to France as a child and now works at the Comedie Francaise.
His work combines modern choreography with Iranian music, Persian literature and Iranian legends.
He explained how they mix together: “Music, poetry, literature and dance are all different layers of art. Listening to music makes your imagination start dancing, the musical notes also dance. I think that everybody who closes their eyes while listening to music feels it in their hearts, and I just try to synchronise myself with their imagination.”
For Moshkin Ghalam dance is all about pushing boundaries and breaking down barriers: “I don’t think we can say whether this is strictly an oriental or an Iranian dance or not. I don’t think so because I try not to limit myself this way. I don’t even think about it.”
Dance is censored in Iran. Only all-male folk dances are allowed, and they are only shown for short periods on the television, which means the development of dance in Iran has been stunted.
Moshkin Ghalam has a view on that: “Standards in Iran are different, we are not able to compare the standards of Iranian and international arts. Except some arts like sculpture, calligraphy, painting, and even in theatre where they reach international standards but not in dance at all. Western dance does not exist in Iran at all.”
