About

Banafsheh Amiri is an Iranian choreographer, educator, and MFA candidate in Dance at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Over the past two decades, she has been dedicated to creating methodologies for developing Iranian dance, choreographically and pedagogically. A lifelong practitioner and researcher of Iranian dance, she is also a vocalist specializing in Iranian Radifs (traditional modal songs).

Her research focuses on enhancing Iranian choreography by blending dance with contemporary Iranian classical music. To promote the new Iranian dance methodology, Banafsheh founded the Miniature Dance Academy and established the Miniature Dance Group in 2012, which educated and performed for women in Tehran, Iran, until 2022.

In addition to extensive experience in Iranian classical, contemporary, and folkloric dances, she is an expert in Cuban-style salsa. A multidisciplinary artist, Banafsheh holds a BFA in Painting from Alzahra University in Tehran and an MFA in Interior Design from the University of Brighton.