Sashar Zarif

Sashar Zarif is a transdisciplinary performing artist-scholar whose work explores movement as a living archive of memory, sound, and story. For over three decades, he has worked across more than 40 countries, engaging dance not as a fixed tradition but as an evolving, responsive practice. His research moves between ritual, performance, and scholarship, drawing from Sufi and shamanic traditions of Central and Western Asia alongside contemporary choreographic inquiry. Over the years, he has developed Living Stories, an embodied practice weaving movement, sound, narrative, and ritual into a framework for artistic creation, research, and mentorship, as well as Dance of Mugham, a movement language shaped by improvisational musical structures. A Fulbright Award recipient, Zarif’s work bridges embodied knowledge with artistic and academic exchange worldwide.