Check out this edition of The MidEast Connect. Ballet Afsaneh & myself were profiled in their NON PROFIT SPOTLIGHT profile. Click on the link below:

www.theculturalconnect.com/current.php

The MidEast Connect is a new, weekly e-magazine and website dedicated to young, driven and forward-thinking Middle Eastern professionals. Each week it profiles the talents of young individuals, companies and non-profit
organizations as well as provides headline news segmented by countries in the Middle East.

I encourage you all to check out the profile and subscribe (for free) to the e-magazine.

Thanks
Aliah

Tajik dance is a performing art form which has remained through time connected to social activities. Still today in Tajikistan, a nation deeply connected to Iran, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan through shared histories, cultures and languages, dance accompanies life cycle events such as births, weddings, funerals and holidays. Dance practices in Tajikistan have also retained a deep and vital link with spirituality, especially in the more remote mountain regions where many movements make reference to the forces of nature and the geometry of the cosmos and in Badakshan, dance still accompanies the minstrel poetry of Rumi, Hafiz, Attar and many others.

Aliah is committed to the preservation and development of Iranian & Central Asian performing arts. Aliah holds a B.A. in Iranian Studies and World Arts & Cultures from UCLA and is currently pursuing a Mmus Performance degree at the University of London: School of Oriental and African Studies. Aliah has been a principal dancer with the San Francisco dance company, Ballet Afsaneh since 1998 and recently served as interim assistant director & co-choreographer. In 2005 Aliah completed an artist residency at Padida Dance Theater in Dushanbe, Tajikistan and returned there this spring of 2007 to continue her dance training with master teacher Sharofat Rashidova. Aliah is also currently a participant in the Tajik Dance Initiative and was sponsored to conduct field research in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan in 2006 and will be returning in the summer of 2007 to continue working with the TDI project.

Having just relocated to the UK, Aliah is excited to learn from and collaborate with Iranian & Central Asian artists based in London. Please contact Aliah for performances and/or workshops at: aliaharts@gmail.com

عالیه نجم آبادی مصمم و متعهد به حفظ و گسترش هنرهای نمایشی در ایران و آسیای مرکزی است. عالیه از سال 1998 رقصنده اصلی باله افسانه در موسسه رقص سان فرانسیسکو بوده و اخیرا نیز دستیار مدیر و یکی از طراحان رقص در این موسسه بوده است. در سال 2005 عالیه در تئاتر پدیده در دوشنبه در تاجیکستان فعالیت داشته و اخیرا از یک تحقیق میدانی در کوههای پامیر در آن کشور بازگشته است. این پژوهش توسط موسسه ابتکار تئاتر دوشنبه حمایت شده است. عالیه دارای درجه لیسانس در رشته مطالعات ایرانی از دانشگاه یو.سی.ال.ای است و در حال حاضر در حال تحصیل در دوره فوق لیسانس در هنرهای نمایشی در مدرسه مطالعات شرقی و آفریقایی دانشگاه لندن (سوآز) می باشد. او که به تازگی در بریتانیا اقامت گزیده از هرگونه یادگیری و همراهی با هنرمندان اهل ایران و آسیای مرکزی مستقر در لندن استقبال می کند. برای ارتباط با عالیه می توان با آدرس ایمیل وی تماس برقرار کرد: aliaharts@gmail.com