Ms. Aram Bayat

The personality of the year 2014, for the category of “Art & Culture”

Aram bayat, a distinguished teacher, choreographer and dancer, has been recognized as the personality of the year in the category of of art and culture, due to her:

–  Efforts to preserve the Iranian artistic dances for more than two decades

–  Familiarizing the Iranian children with their cultural heritage in the art of dancing

–  Working creatively on Iranian dances with the goal of updating them to recognized international standards

–  Setting up the first Iranian folk dance school immediately after the time when dancing in public was banned in Iran

–  Setting up the first Iranian dance group, called Khorshid-Khanum, in Canada

–  Providing dance education for hundreds of Iranian and non-Iranian children and teaching them about this banned art by the Islamic republic of Iran

CURRICULUM VITTAE

Aram Bayat

Aram Bayat graduated from the Institution of Iranian National and Folkloric Dance in Iran, and professional Photography in Dawson College, Montreal, Canada. She continued her studies in the Digital Imaging and Sound program at Concordia University.

 Aram’s artistic career started as a dancer and choreographer for the Ministry of Art and Culture in Tehran, Iran. After the Revolution in 1979, due to the fact that dance was banned in Iran, She forced to leave Iran, and was finally established in Montreal 1988. This experience that changed her life also deeply effect her career as choreographer & guided her to find a new vision of Dance. With this experiences & realized the importance of developing her knowledge of Dance She discovered a new way of self-expression through Dancing. Over the last 25 years in Canada, she has worked as a Choreographer & Dance Instructor, and she founded Khorshid Khanoom (ms.sun) Dance Company in 1995 in Montreal.

In all these years, along with teaching, choreographing and stage performance, she welcomed any activity that contributes to the further introducing Iranian dance and its special conditions after Islamic revolution in Iran, attending seminars, Speaking, interviewing, writing articles, and participating documentaries about Iranian dance: La classe d’Aram by Jeroen Deraeve and Sun Dance forbidden by Lila Ghobady which have been screened in dozens of cities around the world. Also numerous research in Persian diverse and colorful culture especially those who had get less attention.

For more than quarter of century through a multitude of performances, productions, she has continued to work, develop and exercise artistic voices while living outside the boundaries of her homeland. Although for the most part of her creation she has been lived in the west her work utilizes formal contemporary art-making strategies while maintaining strong connections with Eastern tradition. The subject matter of her work covers a variety of issues ranging from cultural identity to personal explorations of gender, and social/ political commentary.

Along with dozens of short dances which have create for different occasions and performed br Khoeshid Khanoom Dance group , She also create numerous independent narrative dances witch performed on various stages in Canada. U. S. and Europe.

Major Choreographies (Independent shows):

Parvaz (Fly)- 1990

Movement, Rhythm, Color and Light- 1993

Maral’s Fairy Tail (ghesaye Maral)- 1998

Blue Nostalgia (Roya-ye-Termeh-Aabi)- 1999

Of Love Peace and Joy- 2003

Stone, Ashes& Hasrat (unfulfilled disaier)- 2005

B.B.Baff (A type of carpet made by the Bakhtiari people of Iran)- 2007

Dance along the Silk Road- 2010

Dr. Hossein Akhani

The personality of the year 2014, for the category of “Environmental and Natural Heritage”

Professor H. Akhani, a plant biologist, an ecologist and expert in the field of environment and biogeography, has been recognized as the personality of the year in the category of Environmental and Natural Heritage, due to his:

 – Tireless efforts for registering and introducing the Iranian flora and geobotany of Iranian plateau

–  Collecting and gathering thousands of herbarium specimens of the many countries including Iran and, especially those of Golestan National Park

–  Founding and curating the herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Iran

–  Publishing many scientific articles on Iranian flora and plant diversity, as well as two major books on Golestan National Park

–   Teaching at university and expanding the education of environmental experts

–  Giving cautionary notices to the authorities and environmental activists

CURRICULUM VITTAE

Dr. Hossein Akhani

Dr. Hossein Akhani is Professor and Head of Department of Plant Sciences at the School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran.

Professor Akhani’s research activities include: Flora and geobotany of Iran and other South West Asian countries, Ecology and biogeography of halophytes, Ecological distribution and phylogeny of plants and conservation and biodiversity. He has worked on flora and vegetation of Golestan National Park in North Eastern Iran and has collected 24,000 herbarium specimens from Iran, Germany, Italy, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Jordan, France, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Russia and Greece.

Professor Akhani received his B.Sc. in Plant Biology at the Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, M.Sc. studies in Plant Biology at the University of Tehran, and his doctorate degree in Botany from Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, Germany by an award of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He has been the Founder and curator of herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Iran, has been contributed to the International Project of Flora Iranica (ed. K. H. Rechinger), and has been awarded Distiguished Research Project of the University of Tehran. Dr. Akhani has also been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Scholarship to work in Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Germany, and has been a visiting research fellow at the Royal Botanical Gardens,  Kew in the United Kingdom.

Professor Akhani has had over 85 published scientific peered review articles and papers in 44 scientific journals and four book series, and two books on flora and plant biodiversity of Golestan National Park and has written other articles about environmental problems in various Iranian newspapers and websites. He has also been interviewed by Iranian national TV channels and radio stations.