ART FOR OURSELVES
  • Home
  • Archives
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
  • Glossary
  • Support
  • Learn More
    • About AFO
    • The Team
    • Get Involved
    • Contact

Aisan Hoss: Iranian Dancer and Choreographer

2/5/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
by Aiano Nakagawa
AFO staff

Picture
Photo by Glen Graves, Dancers: Kim Ip, Aisan Hoss, Mac Pierson

As a choreographer, dance means finding the unknown aspects of myself that I can’t usually find. I started to find the things, and the facts, and
emotions that I had, but I didn’t know I had. It’s like being hypnotized. You find things from your childhood, emotions that you didn’t know about, and I think it just comes from movement.
-Aisan Hoss

Dancer and choreographer Aisan Hoss tells her story of growing up in Iran
where it is illegal for women to publicly perform as dancers. She says "I lived during the revolution and it became part of me."

Aisan Hoss: When the Islamic Republic Revolution happened the government rules [changed a lot]. So, what happened was very simple things, for example, alcohol, women without scarfs, dancing, singing, bars, discos, and nightclubs all became forbidden. All the singers moved to L.A. because they couldn’t stay there anymore. Signing traditional singing was [considered] fine, but--during that time-- no songs were allowed to be about lovers, only about God. Women are still not allowed to sing… [And] even if you’re a tourist in Iran and you’re a woman, you can’t go without a [head] scarf. No woman can be without a scarf. You can be arrested because what you’re wearing isn’t good enough. So it [feels] like they can really force you to do whatever they want by government standards and you don’t have any power. You can’t do anything because this is part of the rules. You can not say “I want to be free,” that’s part of the rules. Since I was born, dancing has been illegal. I lived during the revolution and it became part of me. I didn’t know what [life] was [like] before that.
Picture
Photo by Glen Graves, Dancers: Kim Ip, Aisan Hoss, Mac Pierson

Read More
1 Comment

    FEATURES

    May 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

  • Home
  • Archives
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
  • Glossary
  • Support
  • Learn More
    • About AFO
    • The Team
    • Get Involved
    • Contact