Exciting time: Elnaz (second from left) and sister Tannaz, (centre), with friends from the Eshgh dance group at the Persian Fair. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

by Carolyn Webb 

The Age, Australia

Since they were small children at a Persian dance school 17 years ago, twins Elnaz and Tannaz have loved sharing their culture by performing.

The pair, now 23, wouldn’t miss the chance to dance at the annual Persian Fair, where they were joined on Sunday by friends, members of Melbourne’s Iranian community and members of the public.

The fair, held at Box Hill Town Hall, was one of the most exciting times of the year, said Elnaz, a member of the Eshgh (meaning “love”) dance group since 2007.

She said the fair was “almost like Christmas Day for us”.

“You have all the people around you. We don’t have much family here in Australia, so our family is really the Persian community.”

The women didn’t want to give their surname out of wariness about the Iranian regime, under which women are forbidden to dance in public.

However, Elnaz said she was proud and excited to perform. “Dance is very valued in the Persian culture. It’s a form of art, and we love representing that.”

The number of people born in Iran living in Victoria grew from 7400 in 2011 to almost 22,000 in 2021, according to the census.

And it seemed that several thousand Iranian Australians were at the fair, the air thick with the aroma of home-made kebabs, casseroles and meatballs.

There were enough Persian sweets to stock a Tehran bazaar, and myriad teas infused with cardamom and cinnamon.

On the town hall stage, men and women performed folk dances, sang and played traditional music. Stalls sold everything from rugs to art.

One of the fair’s organisers, Shirin Shamloo, said it was organised by volunteers, and proceeds from it fund a community centre, House of Persia, or HOPE.

The centre, in Doncaster, was bought by 100 Iranian Australians in 2006 to provide free activities from English lessons to gardening, meditation, art classes and iPhone lessons for seniors.

Shamloo said while the Persian Fair was a place for migrants to connect and feel less homesick, “it can just be fun”.

Volunteer Suzan Atabak, a House of Persia committee member and Camberwell lawyer, migrated alone, age 18, in 1984 “with a three-month visa and $480 in my pocket”.

The Iranian population in Victoria had been recently boosted by skilled migration in professions such as medicine and engineering, Atabak said.

Many migrants were young. She said foreign economic sanctions against Iran meant there were not a lot of jobs back at home.

Atabak said the Persian Fair, which she attended with her mother, Sousan Karimlo, was a showcase for the rich Persian culture including poetry, jewellery and handcrafts.

“The image that people get of Iran and Iranians is what you see on the media, and it’s not really what it is,” she said.