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Absolutely first-rate ... with the elegance and classiness of the Mideast's now legendary Badia, queen of the music halls... (Walter Terry, Saturday Review)
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Anahid Sofian studied ballet with Mary Clare Sale, formerly of the NYC Ballet, and modern
dance with Bella Lewitsky and Erich Hawkins. She performed with the
Richard Oliver Modern Dance Company in Los Angeles, and in New York
participated in Tina Croll and James Cunningham’s "The Horses Mouth Greets
the New Millennium" at the Danspace Project of St. Mark’s Church. In the Sixties,
Ms. Sofian’s interests turned to dances of the Middle East and she is
internationally recognized as one of the most versatile and innovative artists
in the field. Self-trained by observing and working with the Middle
Eastern dancers, musicians and communities in New York
and abroad, Ms. Sofian was one of the pioneers in taking Oriental Dance out of
the nightclub and onto the concert stage. She has performed both as
soloist and with her company in such mainstream venues as The Museum of Modern
Art Sculpture Garden, the United Nations, the Uris Theatre on Broadway and
Carnegie Hall, and was the first oriental dancer to be accepted into the New
York Dance Festival at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. She has also been hired to curate numerous
presentations including the
Middle Eastern Festivals held at Town Hall in New York and at the Cleveland
Museum of Art. Ms. Sofian has
been the recipient of choreography grants from NYSCA and the NY State CAPS program and a
residency at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, where she participated in a
Choreography Laboratory directed by the legendary dance master Bessie Schonberg. Working with members
of the DTH Workshop Ensemble, Ms. Sofian created two dances
fusing ballet and oriental dance. Both were included at a DTH
Open House performance at Aaron Davis Hall, CUNY.
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