Sahar Hojat
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Sahar has been a principal dancer of Ballet Afsaneh since 1999. She is originally from Iran and moved to Paris, France, where she studied theatre arts and dance. She continued her cultural studies in California and finished her Master’s while teaching part time at various universities. She has been writing a thesis about identity and expression which she would like to later present for a PhD program. In the present, she is passionately concentrating on her professional carrier in performance arts.
Sahar has been exposed to music, dance, poetry and drama since childhood, studying under some great Masters. In 1994, while still a teenager, in Paris, Sahar decided to pursue a carrier in performance arts and started her professional training in dance and drama. Now she is a principal dancer of Ballet Afsaneh and also part of the Presidio Dance Theater Company and Golden Thread Theater.
She has performed various forms of dance and drama locally and internationally including other forms like flamenco fusion dance touring with the Gypsy Kings. She has been studying Kathak Indian classical dance and drama under Pandit Chitresh Das, in India and in California. She is very interested in the relationship between Persian/ Central Asian and Indian art forms as well as the relationship between dance and drama. Her artistic path is always inspired by Persian poetry.
Sahar is also the public relations representative for Ballet Afsaneh. For PR related issues or to get more information about Sahar’s performance history or current schedule you may directly contact her at promoteworldartists@gmail.com.
Statement
"Thank you to my ostad Sharlyn Sawyer for believing in me, pushing me harder everyday and making me understand that of all the challenges I’ve had, the most challenging of all has been to make it in this world as a working artist and teacher. In the eyes of some people in the Iranian community and many others, being an artist is not seen as a serious profession but as a hobby. It is so ironic! Iranian culture has such a rich artistic past still giving fruits today and it’s all DUE to the PROFESSIONALISM of these artists. It’s important today to understand that the world peace process requires mature and diplomatic international relations where cultural understanding should be prioritized. People promoting the arts should be fully supported. Artists, writers and teachers are the heroes of today and so are the people that support them. To make this world a better place we need leaders that care about others, have sensibility as well as sensitivity. Some that can understand cultural relativity, respect people’s differences but also see their oneness. We need leaders that understand the sense of unity between all people and Nature. We need leaders that can stay consistently creative to give birth to new ideas and to be able to solve issues that cannot always be resolved by the book. We need leaders that can use the art of improvisation when facing difficulty and that have multi- tasking abilities. It seems like we need artists to be leaders today!