Choreographer and dancer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam’s Love Stories of the Shahnameh juxtaposes traditional Persian epic poetry recitation (naqqali) with three romantic-themed Persian dance duets.  The final duet, depicting the story of Sohrab and Gordafarid, references the fewest obvious Persian dance elements and yet stands out as the highlight of the production for its energy, range and depth.  The tense one-on-one battle between the mysterious Iranian warrior and the undefeatable rival champion, Sohrab, goes badly for Iranians until a helmet comes off, waves of dark hair flow downwards, and Sohrab realizes he has been fighting a woman. No warrior in her fortress had dared stand up against Sohrab so Gordafarid had taken on the job of slowing Sohrab’s advance against Iran. Beholding the brave but desperate beauty, Sohrab unravels emotionally. This is where the choreography begins to transcend the Shahnameh plot with its wild whirling dervish duet. Sohrab gyrates in a whirlpool of desire while Gordafarid’s mind and soul swirl in fear, guile, escape plots and her self-assumed responsibility to History.

Miriam Peretz as Gordafarid borrows heavily from flamenco during the battle sequence--both in terms of her movements and in her fiercely proud yet vulnerable state of mind. Moshkin Ghalam as Sohrab strives to follow Peretz’s lead but she is too powerfully possessed by Gordafarid’s militant spirit to give him quarter. Though he is comfortable with flamenco, this dance form is not Moshkin Ghalam’s signature strength. Peretz, on the other hand seems to have a special relationship with the dance, technical nitpicking aside. The unevenness in specialties works quite well, actually, because the story is really about Gordafarid, not Sohrab. After all Gordafarid has a lot more on her mind than the suddenly lovesick Sohrab. Her country is about to be wiped out! As choreographer, Moshkin Ghalam acknowledges the story’s focus on Gordafarid. In the final dramatic sequence, when each character is caught up in their respective dilemmas, he gives center stage to Gordafarid while Sohrab spins upstage mostly obscured by her.

The two love story dances which preceded Sohrab and Gordafarid were idyllic, light and pleasant “prince-meets-princess” treats. The costumes, music and dances team up to create a joyfully mythical atmosphere. Persian script calligraphed on the costumes and bodies are a constant reminder that we are witnessing the written verse in dance form. Yet this time it was Peretz’s lot to be slightly outside her elements. Her dancing, though technically competent, had a generic Middle Eastern feel which lacked precision in localizing the uniquely Iranian touch. This was most apparent with her facial dynamics. The Iranian female dancer knows when the music is being suggestive and displays that understanding on her face with gestures of coyness. Peretz heroic attempts to imitate Persian style coyness didn’t quite line up with the moments when the music was hitting on her. Moshkin Ghalam, on the other hand, is a native to Persian music and his dancing is full of accurate, penetrating and often humorous comments on what the musical instruments are saying.

As a choreographer, though, Moshkin Ghalam reins in the natural sensuousness he exhibits as a solo dancer. His love scenes in this production were all too tame. Perhaps reluctant to alienate the Iranian audience, but probably out of faithfulness to and respect for his classical source, he keeps his love scenes at a G rating. Nevertheless, in a modern Shahnameh-inspired performance the heroes are allowed to go beyond brief pecks on the lip to communicate their fantasies for each other. I’ve seen Moshkin Ghalam off-stage when he’s in a racy dancing mood. Some of those moves may be ready to be choreographed and set to stage.

The poetry recitation (naqqali) was performed before each dance act by Fatemeh Habibizad who goes by the stage name of Gordafarid (in honor of the heroine).  As a solo performer, this young master of Shahnameh narration is able to conjure the entire epic purely out of voice and body language. One of biggest swells of applause during the show came when Gordafarid overwhelmed the audience to ecstasy with a rapid, forcefully rhythmic, and perfectly modulated voicing of a long Shahnameh passage. An audience member sitting next to me was wiping off her tears. As a storyteller Gordafarid has the rare gift of making the stage feel like home. She evokes childhood memories of a sister or mother telling you a story while you are comfortably tucked in bed ready for dreams.  

Goradafarid’s recitations don’t require music or dancers, but when dance and music is there the result is reminiscent of the Indian art of Kathak--where dance moves and face gestures set to music tell a story. Kathak was originally not very different than naqqali. Hindu mythology was recited in dramatic form.  Later the Persianized Mughal court coaxed the religious art form out of the temple and transformed it into court entertainment. Even today, some elements of Kathak performance have Persian names. Gordafarid’s body, hand and face gestures are not as pronounced those of the Indian Kathak dancer, but the family resemblance is clearly there. Moskhin Ghalam does not go so far as Kathak in having the story teller be the same performer as the dancer, yet the reference is clear.

 Gordafarid is the first pedigreed female Shahnameh narrator (naqqal) with a method passed on to her through a lineage of recognized (male) masters. But in the light of her art being so close to earlier forms of Kathak story telling, I wonder if Iranian (and Indian) women have not been performing epic narrations for centuries in private gatherings.

As far as I know Love Stories of the Shahnameh is the first confluence of Iranian music, dance and epic narration on stage. So Moshkin Ghalam’s creation may well be historic. Hopefully, like Kathak, this invention will evolve and blossom into a fully mature art form with a unique modern Iranian touch capable of articulating both the profound and the profane.
 

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