Proudly Presents

THE WHITE FEATHER

An Iranian Ballet Tale

An
INTUITV ARTSHIP and Sanaz K. Soltani
Production

Wednesday, March 22, 7:30PM

Principal Dancers
Tara Ghassemieh and Vitor Luiz

Original Music by Shardad Rohani

For one night only, enjoy an evening showcasing the untold story of an ancient nation through art in its purest form. We invite you to join an unforgettable experience honoring the history of art and expression in Iran through the Iranian National Ballet. In 1979, Iranian ballet dancers had their art stripped from them, and their final bows were never taken. Since then, the fight for freedom of expression has never ceased.

The White Feather is an Iranian ballet tale that follows the inner child in all of us who yearn to express themselves freely. In tribute to Iranian culture and ballet, through a child's eyes, we witness the evolution of Iran from its ancient roots to the present day.

Act One sheds light on the history of Iran's National Ballet and its untimely final curtain and other heroes of Iran’s 1979 revolution.

Act Two beholds a child's transformation into adulthood after the revolution, and the fire within that sparked a nation's call to freedom, led by women.

Produced and presented by:

INTUITV ARTSHIP and Sanaz K. Soltani

Academic Partner

INTUITV ARTSHIP dedicates its inaugural production of The White Feather to Iran’s "Woman, Life, Freedom” movement.

Ballet is immortal and has no borders; it is a universal language that speaks to our souls without words.

About Tara Ghassemieh

Tara Ghassemieh is a Persian-American artist, dance advocate, educator and entrepreneur. Her work is informed by her Iranian roots and diverse experience in the performing and visual arts. She interlaces her talents in performing, creating dance for film and stage, and teaching through INTUITV ARTSHIP, a production company and foundation she co-founded and heads.

Compelled by a belief in dance as a statement of freedom, a birthright, and an essential form of human expression, Ghassemieh tells stories that celebrate Iranian identity and inspire others to dance. The recent release of Persian Swan marked her film directorial debut. The short film introduces her upcoming feature film about the untold story of the Iranian National Ballet.

INTUITV ARTSHIP’s inaugural stage production, The White Feather: a Persian ballet tale premieres at the Irvine Barclay Theatre March 22nd, 2023.

Ghassemieh began her professional ballet career performing in American Ballet Theater's productions of Le Corsaire. She danced in other productions at the while studying at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet.

Tara's professional principal dancer roles include the world premiere of The Gatekeepers choreographed by Andrea Schermoly, Black Swan Pas de Deux, George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie, Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, and White Swan Pas de Deux. She co-choreographed Scheherazade pas de deux, performing at the Barclay Theater and the Segerstrom Music Hall at the 30th Annual International Gala of the Stars. She has performed notable soloist roles: Princess in Firebird, Mirtha in Giselle alongside Gillian Murphy and Cory Stearns, Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and Mercedes in Don Quixote alongside Marcelo Gomes.

Other featured performances and collaborations include lead dancer in Florence and the Machine music video Spectrum, directed by David Lachapelle; award-winning British composer Oliver Davis' film Narcissus and Echo for his debut album SOLACE, and off-Broadway productions.

Her acting credits include The Rescuers by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Michael King and lead ballet dancer in the Walt Disney film Step Up directed by Anne Fletcher among others.

Tara Ghassemieh lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.

About Vitor Luiz

Vitor Luiz is a classical ballet dancer from Brazil. At 10 years old he began taking lessons at Ballet Capell in the city of Petrópolis, RJ with Catalonian choreographer Victor Navarro and ballet teacher Stella de Mello. In the following years, he completed his study in Rio de Janeiro with the most distinguished ballet teachers at Ballet Dalal Achcar, and joined a selective group who was receiving private lessons with mentor Pedro Kraszczuk. Vitor later received a scholarship for The Royal Ballet School in London.

He began his performing career as an artist with the Birmingham Royal Ballet under Sir David Bintley in the United Kingdom in 2000. Vitor returned to Brazil and joined the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro Ballet (BTM), the nation's leading ballet company, where he rapidly ascended the ranks and performed leading principal roles. Eventually he was named Primeiro Bailarino (Principal Dancer) and became an international guest artist performing in various North and South American countries.

In 2009, he joined the world-renowned San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer and performed lead roles with the company for ten years.

Mr. Luiz’s productive professional career in Europe and the Americas allowed an exposure to a vast variety of repertory, dancing well over one hundred classical and contemporary ballets. He is frequently featured in galas and has performed as a guest artist worldwide, including with the English National Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and others. He received many awards, including an Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Best Ensemble Performance in Possokhov's Classical Symphony in 2010.

Choreographer and Educator

In 2019 Vitor Luiz joined as an Assistant Professor the faculty at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts Department of Dance, where he teaches classical ballet, repertory, and partnering. Vitor is enthusiastic about being an artist who is a practitioner-scholar, where he can combine his passions of teaching and dancing.

As an emerging choreographer he combines his classical and contemporary backgrounds influenced by his Brazilian roots. He created new works for UCI's faculty-led performance Dance Visions in 2021, 2022 and soon in 2023, for video and stage. Vitor choreographed or co- choreographed, and performed with his wife and partner Tara Ghassemieh, Scheherazade and various other collaborations for film and music videos. His most recent work for Atlanta Ballet II premiered on November 26th, 2022, a ballet called Luna Emotions.

Vitor Luiz is a member of CID - International Dance Council-Paris, an official partner of UNESCO.

About Shardad Rohani

Conductor and composer Shardad Rohani was born in Tehran and educated at the Music Academy and Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria. Currently, Rohani is the musical director and principal conductor of the Tehran Symphony, having served in this position since 2015. The resurrection of the symphony in the early 2000s has been instrumental in connecting Tehran to the international arts community, including recent collaborations with noted conductors such as Riccardo Muti. In addition to his role as director of the Tehran Symphony (2016-2020), Rohani wrote and performed the anthem for the Iran National Soccer team’s appearance during the World Cup in 2018. He was also commissioned to compose the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 13th Asian Olympic Games held in Thailand.

An acclaimed composer and conductor, Rohani has worked with some of the top ensembles in the world including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Austrian Chamber Orchestra and the London Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. He captured the attention of audiences around the world as the conductor, arranger and performer for the open-air concert “Yanni Live at the Acropolis,” the second-best selling music concert video of all time. The show was simultaneously televised all around the world; more than 500 million people watched the live concert in 65 countries. His most recent project is the “Sinus Persicus Suite,” originally recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices at Abbey Road Studios. Over the past year, the “Sinus Persicus Suite” has been performed throughout Europe and the United States. Rohani has been the recipient of several important scholarships and awards both in Europe and the United States, including the A.K.M Scholarship (Vienna, Austria), the ASCAP Scholarship (Los Angeles, Calif.) and the Jerry Fielding Award for film composers. His recording of classical masterpieces, including all of Tchaikovsky’s ballets, have received rave reviews by Japan’s In Tune magazine.

Due to mature themes and topics, this event is recommended for ages 12 and up