2020 Keynote - Sashar Zarif

Sashar Zarif

sashar zarif performing in front of mountains

Award winning multi-disciplinary performing artist, educator and researcher, Sashar Zarif has been touring across 40 countries around the world and has spent his professional life promoting cultural dialogue through intensive fieldworks, residencies, performances, and creative collaborations. For over twenty five years, Zarif has worked tirelessly to maintain the integrity of these fine arts by operating within three interdependent faculties of research, creation and education. His practice is steeped in the artistry and history of traditional, ritualistic, and contemporary dance and music of the Near Eastern and Central Asian regions. Zarif is a research associate at York Centre for Asian Studies and on the board of directors of Dance Ontario. He is the recipe of numerous national and international awards and fellowships including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). Zarif Latest publication “Carrying My Grandmother's Drum: Dancing the Home Within” in a book called Performing Exile, edited by Judith Rudakoff, was nominated for Canadian Theatre Research Award in 2018. His male quartet choreography, Kismet, was the recipient of Dance Made In Canada’s Audience Choice Award in 2019.