Dance Performance Proposal: From Inspiration to Creation
Years later, after gaining more experience and knowledge, I now feel ready to propose a dance performance to a museum. To do so, I first needed to identify a suitable site and explore how dance could be meaningfully integrated within it. To develop this idea, I conducted both online and ethnographic research, drawing on my previous visits to museums around the world to inform and expand my approach.
After exploring various museum websites and reviewing their themes and exhibitions, I selected the British Museum and the V&A Museum for further investigation. My primary reason for choosing these institutions was their location in London—where I was based at the time—which enabled me to visit them in person and apply ethnographic methodologies. This included taking photographs and videos, studying the layout and spatial relationships within the museums, and, most importantly, experiencing the environment firsthand.
Ultimately, during my visit to the V&A, I was captivated by an item displayed in the Jameel Gallery: the Ardabil Carpet, a 16th-century masterpiece from Iran. The moment I encountered it, I felt an immediate connection and deep admiration for the piece, which inspired me to envision a dance performance based on the carpet.
As an Iranian standing before this extraordinary piece from my homeland, I felt both pride and sorrow. While I wished the carpet were preserved in Iran or at its original shrine, I also recognized the value of its presence in London—where it can be appreciated globally and preserved with great care, perhaps more so than would have been possible back home. This emotional tension became one of the central themes I chose to embed in my dance performance, incorporating elements of the museum itself as the host space for this Iranian treasure.
To bring this project to life, I needed to plan my next steps and identify the methodological tools to be used in the creation process. These tools are essential for guiding the development of the project:
- Archival and Historical Research
• Investigating historical sources, museum records, and scholarly works on the Ardabil Carpet’s Safavid origins, symbolism, and religious significance.
• Analysing the carpet’s motifs, patterns, and inscriptions to connect them to Persian cultural and Shi’a Islamic history. - Embodied Practice and Choreographic Exploration
• Utilizing practice-as-research to explore how dance can express the visual and spiritual elements of the carpet.
• Developing movements that reflect the carpet’s geometric symmetry, floral motifs, and inscriptions. - Music and Sound Design
• Selecting or composing music that aligns with the historical and spiritual essence of the carpet including rhythmic and melodic exploration. - Costume and Visual Aesthetics
• Designing costumes inspired by the carpet, the museum and its first home in Ardabil, Iran
Analysing the Carpet
In addition, I still needed to explore the artistic intricacies of the carpet and delve into the historical context woven into its elaborate patterns. To do this, I had to go beyond its surface appearance—to uncover the intangible layers of meaning and symbolism embedded within its design. This required historical research, which I conducted through both library and online methodologies. To deepen my understanding of the Ardabil Carpet, I explored the rich history of carpet weaving in Iran—an art form dating back to the Achaemenid Empire. While figural, floral, and geometric motifs all existed in earlier periods, the arrival of Islam in the 7th century marked a stylistic shift: figural designs were gradually replaced by abstract patterns—particularly floral and geometric forms—in accordance with Islamic artistic principles. This tradition culminated in the Safavid era (16th–18th century), considered the golden age of Persian carpet-making, when masterpieces like the Ardabil Carpet were commissioned as emblems of royal and cultural prestige.
The Ardabil Carpet, created during the Safavid dynasty in Ardabil, Iran, was originally housed in the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili. It later passed to a British merchant and is now in the V&A Museum. The carpet features a unified floral pattern with a central medallion, surrounded by sixteen oval motifs and hanging lamps. The carpet’s design blends both Persian and Islamic artistic characteristics. It features floral patterns, an attribute of Persian art, integrated into the broader Islamic tradition through the adoption of the repetition principle, a key element of Islamic aesthetics. This fusion further reflects the influence of Islamic art, where symmetry and repetition create a sense of harmony and balance. Schuyler Cammann (1978) notes that the carpet’s symbolism represents the infinite nature of God (Allah) through the gold medallion, while the rigid borders symbolize the finite world. Repetitive patterns and cyclical designs evoke the dissolution of the material world and the passage of time, reflecting Islamic beliefs about God’s transcendence and the rhythm of life. These elements provide valuable inspiration for the dance performance.
