The Lost Legend in Pictures

Photo essay & video: Life & times of ballet dancer Afshin Mofid

by Nazy Kaviani
14-Feb-2008
 
Three thousand people watched the New York City Ballet performance every night, a performance which invariably ended in standing ovations and a crowd that simply did not want to leave the packed New York State Theater. The promising young ballet dancer took his bows, with each bow intensifying the crowd’s applause and noises of approval and adoration, singling him out as “The Star” of the show. [See video "Afternoon of the Faun"]

He was born to a family of artists, poets and writers in 1961. Afshin Mofid was one of two children born to the legendary Bijan Mofid and his wife, Farideh Fardjam, the first female Iranian playwright, prize-winning author, poet, and director. He started ballet training in Tehran when he was nine years old, moving to New York to attend School of American Ballet, becoming the star of New York City Ballet under George Balanchine’s training and direction, and appearing as the star of the New York City Ballet on numerous occasions, nightly packing adoring crowds in the New York State Theater >>> FULL TEXT

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Dear Nazy: What a precious

by anonymousxivaro (not verified) on

Dear Nazy: What a precious find. Thank you for your hard work and tireless research to give us back this gem of an artist. His photo in the American School is haunting and tells of tender and deeply courageous and profound soul. I can almost feel his heart beats. Wonderful job.

Xivaro


Niki Tehranchi

Well written article, fascinating subject

by Niki Tehranchi on

I absolutely love the part where he meets Hemingway's son in an Idaho forest. It's too good. A wonderful read, thanks for all the love and dedication you obviously put into this piece.


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From God's County in MN

by Milan (not verified) on

Proud of you, Afshin! Wonderful artist with a free spirit, defying stereotypes! Loved the pics, especially those of the outdoors adventures!


beyondpersia

Well done!

by beyondpersia on

This is a great artcile about a very interesting person. Ballerina, hunter, fisherman, Iranian.  We'd love to feature him on our site.

Thanks for bringing him to us, Ms. kaviani

www.beyondpersia.org


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Congratulations

by Anonymous1 (not verified) on

Very interesting gentleman. Congratulations on your achievement.


Talking about ballet following link is very interesting. The good part start in the middle of the video!!

Swan Lake Dance by Parviz Sayyad
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VfuRaSQn2E


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Wow!

by Niloofar (not verified) on

Hi Nazy,

Fantastic!!! I am very happy to see Afshin so successful and accomplished. I was in the same Tehran ballet class that Afshin attended with Mr. Kalantari and I even found my picture. I am the girl on the left side of the picture in 'Mofid009'. At the time we just had only 4 boys in our class and maybe around 10 or more girls so it was easy to remember all the boys. This is a great story. Thanks for publishing the story and the pictures.

Niloo,


salim

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

by salim on

 

 

Nazy jan,

What an amazing story! Are you planing to expand this into a book? I could see this turning into a movie on the Hallmark channel.

Also, thank you for taking the time and introducing us to such a great Iranian artist that we (at least, I) didn't know anything about. I hope his story serves as an inspiration to other young Iranians in pursuit of their art who might be set back by self doubt or social cynicism.

A BIG THANKS TO YOU AND AFSHIN.

 

 

Salim Madjd

Founder/CEO //www.Crazymenu.com