Dances of the Silk Road & Beyond

What's New?

The 5th Silk Road Dance Festival
"The Golden Road To Samarkand"
A timeless journey in dance to the heart of Central Asia and a fabled city at the crossroads of many cultures. Directed by Laurel Victoria Gray. Featuring Silk Road Dance Company with special guest artists.
Coming in May 11, 2019  

Distinctions

Laurel Victoria Gray
Adjunct Professor of Global Dance History
George Washington University
Internationally recognized dance scholar, choreographer, performer, and costume designer, Laurel Victoria Gray specializes in women’s dances from Silk Road cultures and the Islamic World. Her scholarly articles have appeared in many publications including the Oxford University Press International Encyclopedia of Dance, the Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, and the Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Culture.

Known as “the pioneer of Uzbek dance in America,” Gray has studied dance abroad, including two years at the invitation of Uzbekistan's State Academic Bolshoi Theater. She has lectured, researched, taught and performed dance on five continents, traveling to Egypt, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Australia, Qatar, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK and throughout the US. Gray works closely with diaspora communities and embassies to accurately present their cultures. Her ensemble, Silk Road Dance Company, performed at the very first White House Nowruz celebration.

Distinctions
2018 Khiva Uzbekistan "Magic of Dance" Festival Jury Member 2016  London Open Central Asian International Festival Award
2013  Dance Metro DC Choreography Commissioning Project Award
2011  Toronto Tirgan Iranian Arts Festival “Arash” Award
2009  Fulbright Association International Dance Scholar Lecture
2006  Metro DC Dance Awards ''Excellence in Costume Design''
2007  Uzbekistan Ministry of Culture Recognition
2005  Embassy of  Uzbekistan
            Award for Strengthening US – Uzbek Cultural Ties
2003  International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance
            Choreographer Award
2003  Kennedy Center Local Dance Commission Project Award
1999  International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance
           Best Ethnic Dancer Award
1997  Samarkand Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival
          Jury Member

Major Concert Works
2018   Wedding in Bukhara
2016   SHAHNAMEH: Adventures from the Persian Book of Kings
2015   Swede on the Silk Road
2013   Bollywood Fever
2009   Raqiset Shaabia: Folkloric Dances of the Arab World
2008   Legends of the Silk Road
2006   The Golden Road to Samarkand
2005   Haft Paykar: Seven Beauties
2003   EGYPTA: Myth, Magic, and Mystery
2001   Remembering the Legends: 3,000 of Women on the Silk Road

Shahnameh: Adventures from the Persian Book of Kings

Silk Road Dance Company at
Toronto's Tirgan Festival 2017

Thanks to a special invitation from the Tirgan Festival - and additional support from the Peg and Rick Young Foundation - Silk Road Dance Company gave three performances in Toronto at the world's largest Iranian Arts festival. Their presentations included Baluchi, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Azerbaijani dance, along with Persian classical and contemporary selections.

New!
Sven Hedin: The Swede Who Discovered Persia
by Laurel Victoria Gray
CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Silk Road Dance Company Performs in London at Orzu Arts Festival 2016

LECTURE  at University of London SOAS
Living Legacy: Women’s Dances of Uzbekistan
Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray 
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PHOTO BY AUDREY DOHERTY
Shaped initially by geography and climate, indigenous Uzbek dances embody communal identity and provide an outlet for personal expression.  Dance can also reflect social and political developments, especially the evolution of folkdance to professional art dance. These changes can give insight into Uzbek women’s changing status and the development of national identity. And while folk dance continues to be an integral part of Uzbek family and community events, the forces of urbanization and globalization have significantly impacted these traditions.

Lecture and Performance at the Embassy of Georgia

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Silk Road Dance Company will perform at the Embassy of Georgia on July 20th. Want to learn Georgian dance and other Silk Road Dance techniques? Sign up for the Silk Road Dance Company Class this summer! Here is the link: http://www.joyofmotion.org/adult-program-f…/middle-eastern/…

Dance Treasures of Uzbekistan

                    SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2016 @ 8 PM
​   TAKOMA PARK COMMUNITY CENTER AUDITORIUM
              7500 MAPLE AVENUE  TAKOMA PARK, MD
​                               $10 suggested donation
Takoma Park, MD – The beauty and grace of traditional Central Asian dance, will come to Takoma Park on Saturday, May 14th, at 8:00 PM, with a performance by the award-winning Silk Road Dance Company. The concert, part of the We Are Takoma series, celebrates traditional women’s dances of Uzbekistan, providing a glimpse into a culture unfamiliar to most Americans.

Dance Interrupted:
Longing for Iranian Roots

 New article on Persian Dance  for Tirgan Festival Media
by Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray

Silk Road Dance Company performs  at State Department Reception

Lecture at Textile Museum

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Mirror of the Soul:
Women's Dance of the Islamic World
March 25, 2015

Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray and Silk Road Dance Company gave the inaugural presentation at  the GW Arts Initiative Program, the Textile Museum's exciting new lecture series  featuring GW faculty and other experts.

Reaching beyond Western stereotypes, women's dances of the Islamic world reflect a diversity of styles and purposes. From celebration to courtship or devotion, dance plays a vital role in community identity as well as self-expression. Award-winning dance scholar, choreographer, costume designer, and performer Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray specializes in dances from Silk Road cultures and beyond. Gray teaches world dance at GW and is the founding artistic director of the Silk Road Dance Company. The lecture included dances by soloists from Silk Road Dance Company and was followed by an followed by informal discussion.

A collaboration with the Arts Initiative Committee of GW.

An Enduring Art:
A Brief Introduction
​to Women's Dance of Iran
by Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray

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Published by Gilded Serpent.com, my new  article on Iranian dance, illustrated with beautiful photographs,  appears in a dance anthology that is available through Amazon.

Laurel Victoria Gray's
Silk Road Dance Company Performs at White House Nowruz Celebration

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2015 UPI
by Danielle Haynes

"The Silk Road Dance Company performed Wednesday in the East Room of the White House in celebration of the more than 3,000-year-old holiday. The official start of the nearly two-week observance is March 21, coinciding with the Spring Equinox. "

Click here to read  entire UPI article.

NGOMA Spotlights
Laurel Victoria Gray
MAY  - JUNE 2016 issue

CLICK HERE to read full article  pp. 13-16.

Laurel Victoria Gray:
American Pioneer of
Silk Road Dance

An award-winning choreographer, performer,  dance scholar and costume designer, Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray has devoted her life to mastering dances from Silk Road cultures and beyond. She combines her degrees in history with decades of field research into Islamic civilizations, cultures, and traditions. Dr. Gray's scholarly articles have appeared in many publications. She has taught and performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and  the East. She  has lectured extensively and currently teaches World Dance at George Washington University.
 
Known as 'the pioneer of Uzbek dance in America',  Dr. Gray first became involved in cultural exchange in 1979 and has led several arts delegations to the former USSR. She founded the award-winning Silk Road Dance Company (SRDC) in 1995 with the goal of fostering “cultural understanding through Beauty and Delight.” SRDC performs throughout the United States --and in Samarkand, Doha, Singapore, and Toronto -- sharing  traditional Iranian, Turkic and Arabic cultures.

An alchemical artist, Laurel Victoria Gray creates enchanted worlds woven from her knowledge of history, literature, music and dance,  breathing life into ancient civilizations with her magical concert length works, like Egypta, Haft Paykar: Seven Beauties, The Golden Road to Samarkand,The Pearl of the Gulf, Bollywood Fever, and more.
 
Known for her memorable, poetic choreographies based on the movement vocabulary of  traditional Persian, Arabic and Central Asian dance forms,  Dr. Gray has created her own systems for teaching traditional Arabic and Persian dance, as well as an innovative movement technique known as “Silk Road Synthesis.”

Greatly influenced by her dance studies on five continents,  Dr. Gray combines both Eastern and Western methodology in her classes, encouraging students to refine their technique while building confidence and exploring self-expression. As an instructor and lecturer,  she conveys information in an organized fashion, spiced with humor and charm.

A wide variety of World Dance workshop offerings reflect Dr. Gray's lifetime of study and travel -- Russian Romani ("Gypsy"), Dance of Turkic Nomads, Classical Persian Dance,  Central Asian styles, Azerbaijani, Ancient Egyptian and many other exciting and unique topics.

She believes that since dance predates spoken language as a form of human communication, we all can access it as a universal source of joy and ecstasy.

American Group Performs Uzbek Dance in Washington DC

12 August 2014
​UZBEK NEWS SERVICE 24In the Center for the Performing Arts named after John Kennedy was held a concert entitled "Dancing in Uzbekistan."On the event, organized by the Embassy of the country in the United States in conjunction with the American dance group Silk Road Dance Company («Dance Ensemble Silk Road"), attended representatives of the American socio-political, academic communities and the general public of the city.
As reported by "Jahon", Silk Road Dance Company has performed more than ten traditional classical Uzbek dances, such as "Mavrigi", "Dilhirozh", "Guldast", "Pilla", "Boy Boy", "Samarkand ushogi", "Keling Gullar" "Katta uyin" in national costumes.
Before the demonstration of each dance, Laurel Gray who was the leading musical evening artistic director was telling central features of Uzbek folk dance to the present public in detail. 

Student Stories:  Bollywood Class with Laurel Victoria Gray

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by  Erika Kottenmeir

The Bollywood Performance Class at Joy of Motion Dance Center has turned out to be so much more than a dance class. Dr. Gray, a professor at The George Washington University, has not only instructed us in the steps of a dance in the traditional kathak style, but also taught us the intention behind each movement. By explaining the meaning of the lyrics and the cultural context, she helps us convey the right amount of emotion in each step, which I’ve learned is so important in a dance style where your eyes say as much as your body. Subtle movements are far more difficult to execute than large, dramatic steps, but as we practice together to achieve synchrony, it is becoming clear that small movements can have a very large impact. It has been fascinating to learn this new language. I am very excited to be a part of the Bollywood performance, and have thoroughly enjoyed my class with Dr. Gray.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:
https://danceisforeveryone.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/student-stories-bollywood-performance-class-with-laurel-victoria-gray/

Wedding Performance Featured in the Washingtonian

Dr. Gray has researched wedding traditions of many Eastern cultures, preserving and adapting them for contemporary brides. The result? Silk Road Signature TM Weddings have become popular in Iranian, Afghan, Uzbek, Tajik, Egyptian, Lebanese, Azerbaijan, and South Asian communities.

New Choreography by
Laurel Victoria Gray Premieres at Azerbaijan Republic Day in DC

National Arab-American Cultural Festival

Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray and her Silk Road Dance Company performed on April 25, 2015,  in Washington, DC, for the first National Arab - American Dance Festival. Traditional dance styles and costumes from Egypt, North Africa, and the Gulf will dance  provided a taste of the diversity of Arab culture.

New Persian Choreography
​Nowruz Festival


On a beautiful, breezy day in Alexandria, Virginia,, Silk Road Dance Company battled the elements to perform a new choreography by Laurel Victoria Gray, set to music by Andy.

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Silk Road Dance Culture