Twilight of the Empress
An Interactive Day of Workshops
Explore themes of love & unity
in an afternoon of dance, music, sound meditation and artmaking.
Guided & Freestyle Dance with Banafsheh
Persian Classical Music with Fared Shafinury
Visual Art with Sheila Karbassian
Sound Meditation with Shila Ommi
Banafsheh Sayyad
Iranian sacred dancer, choreographer, teacher, activist, and founder of Dance of Oneness®, Banafsheh Sayyad performs and teaches her award-winning work internationally, initiating people into the wisdom of their bodies. With a Masters of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography from UCLA and a Masters in Chinese Medicine, she is dedicated to individual and collective healing through conscious dance and movement. Read more about Banafsheh.
Fared Shafinury
Fared Shafinury is a renowned contemporary Iranian-American artist, singer/songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, setâr virtuoso, and educator. Starting his music career at the age of 11, he studied Radif music with master musicians, Ostad Shoari, Ostad Zolghadr and Ostad Lotfi. He first gained global recognition for innovation and authenticity in 2010 with the release of his album, Behind the Seas. Fared is the director of the Radif Retreat Institute of Classical Persian music, an online school and database for music theory. Read more about Fared.
Shila Ommi
Shila Vosough Ommi practices the Tannous Method of sound meditation, and for the past year, has facilitated several sound journeys for groups led by clinical therapists in Los Angeles. She is an Iranian born actor/director who plays leading roles on Apple TV’s Tehran, Netflix’ KAOS, and Disney/Pixar’s Oscar nominated feature, Elemental. Shila directed the feature film, Wake up Sleeping Beauty, produced by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in association with Cross Cultural Expressions. Read more about Shila.
Sheila Karbassian
Sheila Karbassian is an American-born artist whose Iranian background greatly informs her work. Her expressive and diverse style reflects her personal life experiences: being a woman, a mother, a survivor of loss, a survivor of war, an Iranian, an American, traditional, modern, a Californian, and an artist. She holds a BA in Communication Arts from Tehran’s Azad University and a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Sheila practices art and art therapy in Santa Monica, CA. Learn more about Sheila.
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