DANCING TO PROTEST REPRESSION AND VIOLENCE

written by Afsaneh Hojabri

Hello and Happy International Women's Week everyone!

I have been sending out the news of doom and gloom on Iran’s recent uprising and the government’s crackdowns for the past few months. Here is another related news item, albeit of a different nature:

On March 8, 2010, a group of Iranian women danced in front of the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa in colourful costumes to loud Persian dance music! The absolutely creative and novel action was in protest of: Prohibition of dance, music and indeed joy in Iran; and to the severe restrictions imposed on women of Iran in the public arena for the past 31 years - all against the backdrop of the recent escalating repressions.

Here is the link to the first (out of four) video clips now posted on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BNE_UG320

As the organizers hoped, their dancing came as the ultimate assault to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran! Within an hour, the officials resorted to every means possible, pushing the dancers and the cheering audience off the steps of the embassy onto the sidewalk across the street (from clip 2 onward). It is said such reaction by the embassy is unprecedented.

It is noteworthy that Aram Bayat, a professional dancer, and founder of a dance institute named “Khorshid Khanoom” (meaning Ms. Sunshine) helped organize this event. Previously and on other occasions, she has given many interviews on the significance of dancing as a form of social activism, among other things. Among the dancers shown on the clip are at least two prominent Iranian-Canadian activists and scholar/politician (many drove there from Montreal).