About the Artist
Ghazal Ramzani is a Berlin-based Iranian dancer, choreographer, dance filmmaker and facilitator, trained in North Indian classical Kathak dance. Ghazal’s movement and choreographic practice revolves around undocumented narratives of resistance from Iran, and manifests an approach rooted in shared origins. As a dancer and choreographer hailing from North-Iran and descended from working-class women, her practice encompasses artistic engagement with her biography and community of origin. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates diverse mediums and archives into her movement choreography, she develops a movement language derived from communal stories, counter-narratives, dances and storytelling traditions. Her dance performances chronicle narratives of injustice, trauma and resistance that intertwine layers of the mythological, the historical, the political and the intimate. Her debut dance film “Self- Portrait and Other Ruins,” which is a poetic tribute to her foremothers' legacy of resistance, has been widely exhibited and nominated at dance festivals, including MOVIN Cannes, Multiplié Dance Film, Danca em Foco and “dance film making”.
Ghazal received her formal training in classical Kathak at the National School of Kathak-New Delhi, where she was a scholarship awardee of the Indian Council of Arts and Culture (ICCR). During her time as a dance student in New Delhi, she worked with renowned Indian choreographers such as her teacher Pt. Rajendra Kumar Gangani, and co-founded Kalatva Collective, which aimed to disrupt and challenge conventions of classical Indian dance and music. She went on to complete her MFA in Contemporary Performative Arts at the University of Gothenburg, where she was awarded the Artisens Vanner scholarship.
Projects
2022-present ongoing research project Community-Art-Resistance
2021 Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, Dance Film production as part of the MFA-project, produced in Qaemshahr, Iran
2020 Maمآ , international video performance festival Dislocada, Columbia and India
2018 Kali, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, India
2017-2018 Kalatva Collective, New Delhi, India
2016 Tarana, Queer Carnival-Göthe Institut, New Delhi, India
Collaborations
2023 In the darkened room, directed by Sina Aghazadeh, choreography, DFFB, Berlin, Germany (Publication date March 2024)
2022 Revolution of Bodies, protest dance piece co-choreographed with Saeed Asadsangabi, Berlin, Germany
2022 Butchers Tale, music album by Ella Bergström, music video choreography, Gothenburg, Sweden (publication date February 2024)
2020 Geography of Hate by Sujatro Ghosh, Choreohraphy and Dance, Oyoun, Berlin, Germany
2016 Surshree-Dance and Percussion Duo by Ghazal Ramzani and Renu Hussain, choreography and dance, Mindpirates, Berlin, Germany
Projects as stage dancer
2017 Kathak Dancer at Guru bin aisi kaun kare by Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Mahotsav Festival, Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India
2016 Dancer at WEME Ensemble, artistic director Fakhroddin Ghaffari, International Art Festival DIAF, Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India
2016 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav Festival, Kathak Kendra, Jaipur, India
2016 Kathak Dancer at Swami, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Vivikananda Auditorium, New Delhi, India
2016 Kathak Dancer at Guru, Choreography Saroja Vaidyanathan and Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kumbh Mala festival, Ujjain, India
2016 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav Festival, Gurgaon, India
2016 Kathak Dancer at Basant, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav, Chandigarh, India
2015 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, ICCR Alumni Awards, New Delhi, India
2014 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Junges Theater, Göttingen, Germany
Teaching
2024 Guest Mentor at HZT, Berlin Germany
2023 Kathak Instructor at Moving through styles workshop series, Tanzfabrik, Berlin, Germany
2019-present Instructor for classical Kathak, Global Music Academy, Berlin, Germany
2023 Performance-Workshop for Rainwater Symphony at Floating University, Berlin, Germany
2020 Kathak Instructor at Theatre House Da, Tehran, Iran
2019 Dance Facilitator at Hella Mädchenklub, Berlin, Germany
2018 Dancer and dance educator at Performance-Workshop Series in schools in collaboration with NGO Music Basti, New Delhi, India
2018 Kathak instructor at kathak Workshop for adults Tandem Festival, Oxford, UK
2018 Kathak instructor at kathak Workshop for Tap Dancers, Michał Wierzbowski dance group, Warsaw, Poland
2018 Dance Facilitator at summer intensive music and dance workshop for girls at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Göttingen, Germany
2017 Dance Facilitator at summer intensive music and dance workshop for girls at OM10, Göttingen, Germany
2017 Dance Facilitator at Familien für Kinder / 1zu1 für Flüchtlingskinder, Berlin, Germany
Awards, Stipends, Residencies
2024 Dance Film Making 2024, official Selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins
2023 Dança em foco, Official Selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, Rio De Janero, Brazil
2023 NeosFest, Honourable Mention of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins,Monterey, Mexico
2023 Lift-Off Global Network/First Time Filmmaker Sessions, Official selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins (Iver, UK)
2022 Göthe Institute international artist residency program, Banaras, India
2020 Artistens Vanner scholarship, Gothenburg, Sweden
2015-2018 Indian Council of Cultural Relations student scholarship, New Delhi, India
Education
2020-2022 M.F.A. Contemporary Performative Arts, Academy of Music and Drama-University of Gothenburg, Sweden
2015-2018 Diploma Classical Kathak Dance, Kathak Kendra-National School of Kathak Dance,India, New Delhi
2009-2014 B.A. Philosophy, Arts, Media, Universität Hildesheim, Germany