IEA Artist-in-Residence GHAZAL RAMZANI
Ghazal Ramzani is a Berlin-based Iranian dancer, choreographer, dance filmmaker, and facilitator who will be joining the Institute for Electronic Arts from February 4th to 15th. Her choreographic practice is deeply rooted in indigenous dance forms, particularly Kathak and Iranian movement traditions, and center on marginalized and undocumented stories.With a background from North Iran and deep ties to her working-class heritage, Ghazal's artistic practice explores personal and communal histories, incorporating diverse media and archives to create a movement language that reflects counter-narratives and sidelined stories. Her work chronicle narratives of injustice, trauma and resistance that intertwine layers of the mythological, the historical, the political and the intimate. Ghazal’s debut dance film, Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, a tribute to her foremothers' legacy of resistance, has been widely exhibited and nominated at dance festivals, including MOVIN Cannes and Multiplié Dance Film.
Trained in Kathak at the National School of Kathak in New Delhi under the guidance of esteemed choreographer Rajendra Gangani, she co-founded the Kalatva Collective to challenge conventional Indian performance structures. She also holds an MFA in Contemporary Performative Arts from the University of Gothenburg.
Ghazal has been an artist-in-residence at the Goethe Institute in India and AirSilo in Austria, with her work showcased at prominent venues like Oyoun in Berlin, Nehru Center London and Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi. As a facilitator and Kathak teacher, she founded the Kathak Dance School Berlin, an inclusive space fostering experimentation and critical engagement with tradition. Her current focus is on issues of silencing and censorship, the intersections between colonialism and the climate crisis, and reshaping dance spaces by confronting colonial legacies to cultivate decolonial environments and practices.