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About
CROWN is the UK’s first touring production combining classical Persian dance, contemporary dance, and Sufi movement to tell a story of displacement, identity, and body sovereignty to an original soundtrack of live classical music and electronica.
Maria Tarokh directs this female-led production on its inaugural tour. The cast feature brilliant contemporary and classical dancers and virtuoso classical Persian musicians to bring you a moving, exhilarating, and energetic experience.
CROWN is a manifestation of female strength; it is an opportunity to reclaim what we lose through displacement. Using Persian miniatures, lived experience and the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad, the 3 lead dancers take the audience on a journey from determination through struggle to release. Finding courage, resilience, and joy along the way.
CROWN is a celebration of the transformation which takes place when we realise home is within ourselves.
Co-produced by Dartington Arts and commissioned by Counterpoints Arts. Supported with funding from Arts Council England.
Maria Tarokh is a British-Iranian Dancer, Choreographer & Director. Trained in ballet, contemporary and Classical Persian dance, she has performed and taught at shows, festivals and events across the UK and Europe for the past 14 years. A second-generation immigrant to the UK, she has worked extensively with refugees and asylum seekers and fully believes in the power of the arts to transform and empower people and places.
She founded Company Scheherazade to tell stories of the diaspora and bring a new perspective to the portrayal of displacement. CROWN is Company Scheherazade’s flagship production, Over three years in the making, she created the Company to tell stories of the diaspora and bring a new perspective to the portrayal of displacement. She brings her wealth of experience in performing arts in the UK to create and lead the production to tour.
Currently based in Devon, she is the Creative Producer of NDP Circus and Totnes Festival of Arts and Culture – working with theatre, circus, and dance – combining site-specific workshops, residencies, and performances at heritage sites across the UK & Europe.
