She danced the dance of flames and fire, and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.
Khalil Gibran, The Wanderer
Performances 2018-2020 2015-2017 2012-2014 2009-2011 2006-2008 2003-2005
Sufi Splendour by Zia Nath
Zia & her students performed at this prestigious annual arts festival in Mumbai, presenting Sufi Splendour™, with Gurdjieff Sacred Dances, Sufi Odissi Fusion and the Whirling Sema.
An evening event of sacred dance & music celebrations, Zia presented a solo performance of Sufi Odissi and Sufi Whirling
Zia was invited to welcome the guests at this prestigious national event with an opening of the Sufi Splendour™ Whirling Odissi Dance in a solo performance.
This evening was dedicated to raising funds for underprivileged widowed women and children. Supported by the special guest of the evening Cherie Blair (wife of UK ex PM Tony Blair), Zia presented Sufi Splendour™ with her students of The Sacred Dances Workshops. Cherie Blair was deeply touched with the performance, being a lover of Mevlana Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes, Cherie personally complimented and thanked Zia for the evening’s presentation.
A presentation of Sufi Odissi and Sufi Whirling to Indian Classical and new age Sufi music, presented by Zia, a solo performance.
Classical Odissi Dance Annual Concert by the students of Asha Nambiar of Vaishnovi Kala Kshetra. Zia along with other students performed in the classical genre of Odsissi Dances.
AIMF organized a concert to support the Autistic children’s community in our city. The concert was a confluence of dances from all genres - rap, jazz, bollywood, b-boying, kathak fusion and Zia presented a Sufi Odissi Dance of Odissi dances merging into Sufi Whirling, in a solo performance.
Presentation of Sufi Splendour™at the Bodhgaya Buddhist Festival, a confluence of sacred dances by Zia & her dance troupe accompanied with live music rendered by Bikramjit Singh and company. Being amongst an audience of a thousand people, most of them buddhist monks from India, Tibet and South East Asia, the show received much appreciation for its meditative qualities.
Zia presented Sufi Splendour™- a confluence of diverse art forms, devoted to the unifying path of love, the Sufis. Accompanying the dances was BikramJit Singh and his team of musicians rendering live music from the Turkish and Persian genre. Renowned theatre artists from Mumbai recited poems and songs of Jalal-Ud-Din Rumi along with the dances and live music.
Organized by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF), Udaipur, the Kartik Poornima is a prestigious event for the Royal Family of Mewar, celebrating this festival every year with dance and music performances.
Music album launch of BikramJit Singh - The Dancing Flute was launched by Kanakia Art Foundation in Mumbai & Pune. Zia was invited to present her dances along with guest artists - Flautist Yoko from Japan and Spanish Guitarist Benize from the USA. Zia rendered an Odissi dance solo for the title track - Dancing Flute and a whirling duet for a Turkish Sufi recital - The Silent Mountain.
At a large spiritual gathering organized by the foundation of Morari Bapu at Champarani Ashram in Raipur, Madhya Pradesh. A week long festival saw artists from around the country. Zia was invited to present the Sufi Splendour™. The show was well received by an audience of about 2000 people. Morari Bapu in his own words offered the following comment on the performance The dancers, the dances and the entire program carried the quality of ‘sattvic and energy’ - purity! This entire performance was conducted in Hindi.
The birthday celebrations of enlightened mystic Smt. Anandmurthi Gurumaa was brought in by the presentation of the Sufi Splendour™ to an audience of 1000 disciples visiting the ashram from around the country and internationally. Gurumaa is herself a devotional singer of Sufi songs and Rumi poetry. The performance was conducted in Hindi with Gurumaa’s Hindi transalations of Rumi poetry and songs as the backdrop to some of the dance recitals. Gurumaa was touched with the performances and completed the evening with a talk about whirling, its principles and philosophy, the stillness behind the movement and significance of whirling from a meditator’s viewpoint. The evening concluded with a short silent meditation followed by celebrations.