One Step at a Time - Aftab Dance bridges cultures, promotes liberation

On a recent afternoon at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, a circle of women in vibrant, flowing dresses captivated a crowd with the sways and spins of Persian dance. The performers were members of the Aftab Dance Group, an all-female Iranian dance ensemble that for nearly 20 years has brought the color and joy of Iranian culture to audiences across New England.

Founded in the mid-2000s by Iranian American students eager to share their heritage, Aftab has blossomed into a dynamic troupe of students and young professionals using art to unite communities. The troupe’s name, Aftab, in Persian means “sunlight.”

It wasn’t always a large production. In its early years, Aftab was a small, informal group that performed mainly at local cultural gatherings.

“It definitely started as a smaller force of women — something for fun, something that they could connect with their culture,” said Neggin Rostamnezhad, a longtime member who served as a co-captain of the group. Over time, the group evolved into what she described as “a much more built-out channel for women in the Boston area,” complete with professional costumes, rigorous practices and a growing reputation.

Today, Aftab’s dancers range from recent immigrants to second-generation Iranian Americans. Through weekly rehearsals and frequent shows, members strengthen their own ties to Iranian heritage while introducing others to the beauty of Persian dance.

For some, the group has become a surrogate family. Leili Javidannia, who moved from Iran to Boston for graduate school, remembers feeling adrift before she found Aftab.

“When I came to the U.S., I missed my family because they’re all living in Iran. I was looking for something that reminded me of my culture and my good times in Iran,” she said.

That longing was answered when she happened upon an Aftab performance at a local university.

“That was the moment I was like, ‘Oh! I want to be a member of this amazing group!’” Javidannia recalled. She auditioned and earned a spot, but initially couldn’t join due to her studies. After graduation, she wasted no time. “The first thing I did was join Aftab,” she said.

Once in the group, Javidannia quickly found the sense of community she’d been missing. Aftab’s members gather not just to dance, but to celebrate Iranian traditions together.

“To be honest, without Aftab, I don’t know with whom I would celebrate Nowruz (the Persian New Year) and Yalda (the winter solstice festival) and all the other Persian events,” she said.

Others joined Aftab seeking a stronger connection to their roots.

Anna Beheshti-Rhodes, who was raised in Massachusetts by Iranian parents, had trained in ballet, tap and jazz but knew little about the dance of her ancestral culture. She discovered Aftab in 2017.

“I’d never done Persian dance before. When I found out about Aftab, I thought it was a really awesome way to connect with my culture while doing something I’ve always loved — dancing,” she said.

Aftab now performs at dozens of events each year, from university cultural shows to some of the region’s largest celebrations. The group is a fixture at Nowruz festivals, including the Museum of Fine Arts’ annual Persian New Year celebration, which draws hundreds of attendees.

Beyond delighting audiences, Aftab’s members see their dancing as a form of cultural preservation— and even quiet resistance. In Iran, women are largely prohibited from dancing or performing publicly under the Islamic Republic’s strict social rules.

The freedom these Boston-based dancers enjoy is not lost on them, especially given recent turmoil in their homeland. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iranian police custody in September 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating hijab laws, sparked widespread, women-led protests across Iran and around the world. During that time, Aftab’s dancers felt the weight of their mission more than ever.

Rostamnezhad explained that Aftab wasn’t “just doing fun movements and ideas that we think are cool, but taking into account our surroundings and the climate.”

Performing freely, she added, made them mindful of “those who don’t have the privilege to dance right now” and inspired them to, in some small way, “speak out for them in Iran.”

A poignant song from those protests, Shervin Hajipour’s “Baraye” (which means “for the sake of”), became an unofficial anthem of the uprising and the backdrop for an Aftab performance.

After nearly two decades, the women of Aftab show no signs of slowing down. They have high hopes for the future and are eager to keep Aftab evolving for the next generation.

The group has begun exploring dance classes and workshops to involve more people. While Boston’s Iranian community already knows and loves Aftab, Beheshti-Rhodes wants to reach beyond it.

“Our Persian community in the Boston area is pretty tightly knit. People know about us, and we love performing for our community,” she said. “But there are a lot of people who don’t know about Persian dance and don’t know about Aftab.”

Introducing Persian dance to those new audiences is the next step in the group’s mission.

“In terms of goals for the future, we’d love to see younger blood in there,” Rostamnezhad said. “We’d love to see fresh perspectives, new ideas and engagement from our followers, too.”