Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam (Persian: شاهرخ مشکین قلم ‎‎, Šârukh Muškîn Qalam) is an Iranian modern dancer trained who lives and works in Paris. A graduate in history of art and theatre from the Paris 8 University, he is choreographer, actor and director. In addition, he is the founder and former artistic director of Nakissa Art Company. He is the first Iranian to be part of the prestigious Comédie-Française troupe.

He was born In Iran but then moved to Paris in his early teens. His choreography style is usually based on Persian classical music that brings Persian myths, poetry, and dance together to create an atmosphere of magical quality.

He has danced in Seven Pavilions of Love, Sohrab and Gordafarid, and Khosrow and Shirin. In his Dance-Mythologic (a collection of Dances based on Persian mythology) piece, Shahrokh is a story teller translating the lines from thousands of years ago into movements familiar to today's audience all over the world. In Moshkin Ghalam’s view, movement is to convey a message; he does not believe in using movement for the sake of movement. His extensive training in world dances, along with his open-mindedness, allows him to take all that he feels necessary from other cultures, add to it, or sometimes re-invent it each time in a new context for a different purpose.

I came to realize the importance of my roots, my heritage, my being Iranian after I left Iran. It happened over the course of my six-year collaboration with Ariane Mnouchkine, who reminded us that every single one of us, who came from all over the world, had something to contribute to this magical world of theatre." "I turned to our myths, our legends, our great epic Shahnameh and tried to learn as much as I could.

In 2002 the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden invited him to perform Seven Pavilion Ballet based on the works of great Persian poet Nezami. Dance Variations on Persian themes created in 2007 is his last work which is a collection of his best choreographies performed with Karine Gonzales the major dancer of his company. His Omar Khayyam Ballet inspired by the quatrains of 12th-century Persian poet Omar Khayyam has been performed in Paris, London, Stockholm, New York and Los Angeles. The Mythological Danses inspired by the three love stories (Khosrow and Shirin, Bahram and Dorsatti, Sohrab and Gordafarid) is also a very successful series of Persian dances which has been performed in Europe and North America several times.

For six years, he appeared under the direction of Ariane Mnouchkine with the Théâtre du Soleil and had major parts in plays such as Tartuffe, la Ville Parjure and Les Atrides. His theatre performances include Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with the Terrain Vague Company, Romeo and Juliette directed by Lionnel Briands, Dionysos, the Baccantes of Euripide directed by Usevio Lazaro, Soldier Tale of Strawinsky in theatre Athenée directed by Antoine Campo, A Streetcar Named Desire of Tennessee Williams directed by Phillip Adrian, and Bassa Selim for "Die Entführung aus dem Serail'"' conducted by Marc Minkowski, directed by Jérôme Deschamps. at Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2004.

He has played and directed plays in Persian including:

• Zohreh va Manouchehr by Iraj Mirza
• Mardha va cheez from Makki
• Kafane Siah a play inspired by Mirzadeh Eshghi the early 20th century Iranian poet.

2004 - 2011, he has been an official member of La Comédie Française, one of the most prestigious theatre companies in Europe and has taken part in plays including:

• Pedro et le commandeur, Felix Lope de Vega
• Molière / Lully: L'Amour médecin / Le Sicilien ou l'Amour peintre, conducted by William Christie, m.e.s Jean-Marie Villégier
• La Maison des morts, Philippe Minyana, m.e.s Robert Cantarella,
• Yerma le Bonheur, Cyrano de Bergerac and others all played in French

He and his company Nakissa perform in various countries around the world and attend international festivals or events, such as the International Dance Festival in Boulder Colorado, Festival Meridas, Festival d'Asturias Festival de Chartres, Rotterdam, Rome, La haye, and the Tirgan festival in Toronto. Shahrokh enjoys photography. In 2009 he signed an open letter of apology posted to Iranian.com along with 266 other Iranian academics, writers, artists, journalists about the Persecution of Bahá'ís.