FESTIVAL DANCERS
MIRIAM PERETZ
NATIONAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY: Tajik, Central Asia
First Appearance in SF EDF: 2005
Email: miriamp@mindspring.com
For centuries, Central Asia has acted as a crossroads for the transit
of people, goods, and ideas between Europe, the Middle East, South
Asia and East Asia. The nomads of the expansive Eurasian steppes had
domesticated horses, which vastly increased their mobility and allowed
for trade and cultural exchanges between widely separated populations.
These journeys and cultural exchanges certainly affected the music,
dance, dress and aesthetics of the people passing over this vast territory.
Miriam teaches workshops in Central Asian and Middle Eastern dance
in the Bay Area and internationally. Her teachers of Persian and Central
Asian dance have included Galia Ackilov from Buchara, and Sharlyn
Sawyer, Artistic Director of Ballet Afsaneh. She has been a principal
dancer with Ballet Afsaneh since 2000.
2005 PERFORMANCE
TITLE OF PIECE: Saname
CHOREOGRAPHY: Sharlyn Sawyer and Miriam Peretz
DANCER: Miriam Peretz
Although there are similarities in the dance, music and poetry styles
throughout Central Asia, each country has its own distinct forms. Miriam
Peretz performs the woman's solo dance, Saname, from Tajikistan.
While the style and musical form is distinctly Tajik, the dance draws
on movement vocabulary of neighboring Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan,
and ads in elements of Soviet-era showmanship. The blending of elements
from several Central Asian countries is representative of a post-Soviet
blossoming of the performing arts.
Saname is performed with a hand-held frame drum called a daf. The
frame drum has a long history and was associated with dance and ritual
since Shamanic times. The circle of the daf evokes images of the moon,
and the drum's sound was used to call on divine spirits during
Shamanic rituals. These secular derivations performed by woman have
long been an important part of festive occasions and celebrations in
Central Asia. Saname, meaning "dearest one," is a popular
Tajik song whose lyrics sing praises to a beautiful girl.
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