SHIRAZ Comes to The Lilian Baylis Studio in November

This November, Sadler's Wells' Lilian Baylis Studio will see the UK premiere of Armin Hokmi's Shiraz. Inspired by the Shiraz Arts Festival, which took place yearly between 1967 and 1977 in southern Iran, Hokmi, together with the team, bring this treasured tradition into our present day. 

The Shiraz Arts Festival was known for bringing diverse works of live art, from traditional to avant garde, from various continents so that different cultures could meet and learn from one another. Led by filmmaker Farrokh Ghaffari, playwright Khojasteh Kia, and director Arby Ovanessian, the festival was an important space for artistic research for artists such as Merce Cunningham and Carolyn Carlson. This bold project became the starting point for Shiraz, a choreographic performance for seven performers. Hokmi draws inspiration from this meeting of continents to create a dance that is contemporary, personal, and intimate. Between minimal abstraction and familiar echoes, the performers cross paths, spread out, and meet again through a hypnotic score. 

More than a tribute, Shiraz is a new vision. It investigates the link between dance and place, between gestures and history, between memory and invention. The six dancers trace ever-evolving paths, bringing the past onto the stage and transforming it into the present, through pulsating choreography set to Persian trap music.  

Armin Hokmi has been working in the theatre and dance space since 2009, where he began as an actor in an independent theatre company in Iran. As a dancer and performer he has worked with artists such as Mette Ingvartsen, Kasper Ravnhøj, Hooman Sharifi and Phillip Zarrilli among others. Armin currently lives and works in Berlin.  

Shiraz at Lilian Baylis Studio marks the first time Armin's work has been performed in the UK. 

Armin Hokmi said, "We are beyond excited to share Shiraz with the audience in London. A context new to us and we are curious for the public's meeting with the work. Since the premiere almost 2 years ago, every house that we performed in changed the work and has sent us further with a lively spirit that we carry into the dance. We are looking forward to performing our last shows of 2025 at Sadler's Wells."