We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Banafsheh Sayyad a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Banafsheh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my dance piece, Iran, My Mother. I created this piece in response to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, which arose after the tragic death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old woman killed by the Iranian regime in late 2022 for not “properly” wearing her hijab. Mahsa’s death sparked an outpouring of protests, with many courageous young people risking–and ultimately losing–their lives in the pursuit of justice and freedom for all.

Iran, My Mother is a tribute to these fallen heroes, their grieving mothers, and to Iran itself, a homeland mourning the loss of her children. This piece is danced from the perspective of these young lives, conveying their undying love for their mothers and their country. I’ve had the honor of performing this work across the U.S. at rallies dedicated to freedom and regime change in Iran.

This project is deeply meaningful to me because it allowed me to channel my pain and hope into an artistic form when words were not enough. Audience members have told me that the dance captures their own grief and resilience, which has brought them comfort. Through Iran, My Mother, I’ve been able to connect with others who share this grief as well as a vision of a brighter future, and offer a space for collective healing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a master Iranian sacred dancer, choreographer, transformational teacher, and activist. I founded Dance of Oneness®, a path of embodiment that unites dance, healing, and wisdom teachings to help people reconnect with their bodies and ignite the flame of love within. My journey in dance began as a way to express my true self and my connection with spirit in a culture where dance was suppressed. Over the years, my path has evolved into an offering that invites others to tap into their own innate healing intelligence and free themselves through the sacred art of movement.

Dance of Oneness® is dance as a spiritual path and science of embodiment that integrates rigorous dance and movement technique drawing from a variety of modalities like flamenco, Tai Chi, Persian dance, contemporary dance and whirling, with heart-centered self-expression, holistic healing, and teachings from Sufi, Taoist, and the Divine Feminine traditions. With my background in both dance (MFA from UCLA) and Chinese Medicine, I guide people to explore and embody the fullness of who they are. I’m one of the few bearers of authentic Persian dance, and a pioneer in creating a liberated feminine expression in the Sufi dance of whirling traditionally practiced only by men.

I’m proud of creating a space where people of all ages and different backgrounds dance and feel empowered to inhabit their bodies with joy and belonging. My work has taken me to perform and teach across North America, Europe, Australia and Turkey, at venues like Esalen Institute in CA, Omega Institute in NY, and the Dance Center at Columbia College in IL. I perform with my dance company Namah and a host of different musicians. One of my favorite projects has been the dance film In the Fire of Grace with the author, Andrew Harvey, which traces Rumi’s journey of the soul in dance.

Through my performances as well as online and in person classes and workshops in sacred sites around the world, I invite people to feel a deep sense of connection—to themselves, to each other, and to the world around them. When people tell me that Dance of Oneness® has given them a new sense of peace, freedom, or resilience, I feel immense gratitude, knowing that my work has made a difference.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the privilege of creating experiences that go beyond words and touch people at a soul level. Dance allows me to express the vastness of our shared human journey—the pain, beauty, resilience, and joy that we all feel but may struggle to articulate. Through movement, I’m able to channel an energy that is both personal and universal, tapping into a language that speaks directly to the heart and spirit.

One of the most fulfilling moments is when someone tells me that Dance of Oneness® has helped them reconnect with themselves, feel empowered, or find a sense of peace and belonging. To know that my work has moved them in unexpected ways or offered them a safe space to rediscover their own essence is incredibly meaningful. Dance becomes a doorway to transformation, inviting people to embrace their inherent beauty and strength, and to feel the profound interconnectedness we all share.

I am also honored to preserve and reimagine ancient traditions like Persian dance and Sufi whirling for today. In bridging past and present, personal and universal, I feel I’m part of something far greater than myself, contributing to a ripple effect of healing and awakening. Art, for me, is a sacred service, a way to hold a mirror to our shared humanity and to remind each person of the radiant essence within them. This sense of being connected to something larger—of witnessing others experience healing, inspiration, and joy—makes the path of an artist one of the most fulfilling journeys I could imagine.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Since I was a child, dance has been my calling, but choosing to train professionally and make it my career was a path fraught with intense resistance. In Iran, where I grew up, dance is not only discouraged but actively suppressed—seen as sinful under Islamic doctrine—to the point that today, women’s dancing in public is banned. My family, shaped by this cultural and religious climate, didn’t think dance was appropriate for me to pursue. But despite this strong opposition, I felt an unwavering pull to move, to express, to share something profound through dance. Every step I took toward this dream required resilience; I had to constantly push back against the judgment, the restrictions, and even the self-doubt that seeped in from the world around me.

Through this journey, I became intimately familiar with opposition, both external and internal. At times, the voices of discouragement were so loud, it would have been easier to just abandon my path. Yet, every time I felt doubt creeping in, I returned to the power I felt when I danced—a power that seemed to silence all the forces telling me to stop. I refused to let anything, even my own fears, keep me from following my passion. This resilience taught me to meet adversity with strength, and it has given me deep empathy for anyone struggling against barriers in pursuit of their own dreams.

Growing up in Iran, I didn’t have access to formal dance training, so I developed a rigorous training regimen on my own. This intense self-discipline paid off when, after moving to the U.S., I was able to quickly excel in flamenco at the age of 18. Later, I was accepted into the MFA program in Dance and Choreography at UCLA, a competitive program that admitted only 5 students out of 300 applicants.

Over time, I realized that my calling wasn’t only to dance for myself but to dance for freedom—mine and others’. Women in Iran live under severe oppression, and in Afghanistan, the situation is even more dire. As a woman in the arts, I’ve come to see that each act of freeing myself from inner and outer constraints reverberates outward, helping dismantle the chains that restrict others. The resilience I built through my own journey allows me to encourage others to confront what binds them and to liberate themselves, knowing that this liberation isn’t just personal—it’s collective. When we free ourselves, we open doors for others.

This is the foundation of Dance of Oneness®, the modality I created to help others experience the liberating power of movement. Dance allows all that society has forced us to suppress to rise up and be seen, heard, and loved. For women, in particular, it can be a profound act of reclamation and empowerment. Through Dance of Oneness®, I seek to share the resilience I’ve cultivated, guiding others to shed their layers of restriction and awaken to the boundless strength within them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danceofoneness.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/banafshehdance/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BanafshehSayyad/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/banafsheh-sayyad/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BanafshehSayyad

Image Credits

Mehri Modiri Sahihi