photography by Laura Soriano

Nava Dance Collective

Nava Dance Collective is an international community of dancers devoted to cross-cultural dialogue and artistic collaboration through traditional, sacred, and ethno-contemporary dance forms. Under the direction of Miriam Peretz, dancers from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds collaborate in the creation of meaningful projects and performances.

Creating community among dancers is at the heart of the Nava collective. Beyond the importance of cultural preservation and technical precision is the basic need for people to come together and feel supported by a larger sense of community. Historically this has always been an important aspect of traditional dance forms. However, often times this is forgotten, and the dance floor becomes a place of competition, ego, and intimidation. The collective shares the belief that the dance space, our Dance Sanctuary, wherever it may be, should be a place for healing and transformation. It is the duty of all dancers to create this safe space for themselves and others.

Nava is a beautiful example of a word shared by the Hebrew, Farsi, and Turkish languages. In Farsi and Turkish Nava means sound or tune. It is also the name of one the main Dastgah (musical modes) in the Persian and Turkish Classical music traditions. In the Hebrew language, Nava means pleasant, graceful, beautiful and is a common girls’ name. Also, in Hindi, Nava means young or new.

Nava seeks to include dancers who are interested in strengthening their technical dance skills and using dance as a holistic practice for self–transformation, character refinement, and incorporating more gratitude and open-heartedness into their lives.

Read a beautiful article on Nava Dance Collective written by Heather Desaulniers for Dancers Group,

"Building Sisterhood Through Movement."   http://dancersgroup.org/2017/03/building-sisterhood-nava/

Nava Projects

• The Bustan Project- garden of Roses

• Madre

Weaving classical, contemporary and devotional interpretations of Persian dance, with live music and poetry, Nava invites the audience on a journey towards the heart. Garden of Roses, an ode to motherhood, a call for women to remember their strength in sister- hood and their divine embodiment, is dedicated to the beautiful and strong women of Iran.

Throughout the history of Iran the rose symbolizes love, and perfect beauty. In the mystical poetry traditions of Sufism, the rose is often a metaphor for the heart. As the rose opens its petals to the light of the sun the beloved opens her heart to the love of the divine. In the Garden of Roses, the dancers offer their hearts to the audience through expressions of Persian Classical, Mystical, and Contemporary dance. The piece is richly embedded with ritualized movement inspired by Sufi practice, elegant sweeping dances reminiscent of the Paris (or angelic beings as seen in the miniature artwork of Central Asia,) contemporary interpretations of traditional Persian dance themes and devotional prayer dances for peace and unity. 

The Bustan Project first premiered in Israel in 2014, produced by Iris Delshad and the Choreographers Alliance of Israel.  Since then the piece has been presented in theaters in Spain, Italy, and California.

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Nava Dance Collective hosts an annual benefit concert for International Women’s day in support of MADRE.  MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that partners with community-based women's groups facing war and disaster, and their aftermath. Together they meet urgent needs and build women’s capacity to create positive social change. www.madre.org.

Each year Nava is joined by a diverse group of artists including musicians, dancers and spoken word artists who come together in celebration of the strength and powerful voices of women and mothers throughout the world.