"The rebirth of an art form that vanished with the tumultuous events in the history of my country, has given me the privilege to reflect on human condition. It is the inspiration behind these reflections that creates movement."
- Nima Kiann
"The founding of Les Ballets Persans in the year 2002 was the fruit from several years of endeavor by a young man, who is in love with his motherland as well as with its culture and history of art. Thanks to this love, he has combined what he has learnt about the art of ballet with some surviving remnants from the culture of his birthplace in order to create a colourful rainbow which represents the diverse manifestations of art in the land which nurtured him.
Despite the fact that he spent only the first seventeen years of his thirty eight-year life in his homeland, his love for the motherland and constant acquaintance with its eternal culture nevertheless directed him along the difficult path of reviving and safeguarding on the most beautiful legacies of Iran's art heritage.
By founding the dance company of Les Ballets Persans, Nima Kiann has in fact created a full-length mirror to reflect Iran's culture, history and art in a perspective depicting an art form, which is either not known among our compatriots or is synonymous with decadence.
As he himself, has said: He has had the good fortune of finding a jewel, which had fallen beneath the dust of spitefulness; and there was a need to bring back the luster to this jewel by adopting a fresh approach and by drawing a new plan. Tonight we have witnessed participating members of his newly launched European Youth Dance Project to perform ballets from Les Ballets Persans' repertoire."
- Quotes from the announcement ceremony
Three decades of artistry of Nima Kiann resulting in promotion and realization of Iran's most extensive artistic project ever carried out outside of Iran was celebrated in a Gala Performance in London organized by Toos Foundation on March 9th, 2008.
On the occasion of its sixth anniversary since establishing Les Ballets Persans, an exquisite ballet ensemble with rich neo-classical Persian legacy interwoven with affective cultural inspiration, Toos Foundation of London promoted an exclusive Gala Performance to celebrate the works and artistic achievements of Artistic Director Nima Kiann.
An enthusiastic audience of more than 1000 encouraged him during the three and a half hours long Gala Performance with 24 times of standing ovations. He was awarded the Ferdowsi Award of Toos Foundation "For his untiring efforts to give life to a forgotten Iranian cultural and artistic heritage, and for recreating and reestablishing the Iranian National Ballet through his dance company of Les Ballets Persans".
"As Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer of Les Ballets Persans, Nima Kiann continues to create an international cultural impact, leading the most extensive Iranian artistic project ever realized outside of Iran by bringing together the talents and creative resources of distinguished artists from all around the world, with the common goal of working for the revival and enrichment of a great cultural and artistic asset. Toos Foundation salutes Nima Kiann's strong artistic vision and organizing abilities which combined have made him one of the most successful cultural administrators of Iranian community in Europe."
The Gala Performance was opened by a message from Baroness Caroline Cox, a Deputy speaker in the British House of Lords following by a speech held by Ms. Susan Mayer, Dean of the Harris School of Public Studies at the University of Chicago.
A bilingual overview on the history of Persian Dance during various historical periods from the cult of Mithraism, through the Achaemenid Empire, Sassanids, Islam, Sufism, Safavids, Qajar and Pahlavi era until the present time, written by Nima Kiann was presented by Ms. Elizabeth Mansfield in English and Ms. Fakhri Nikzad in Persian.
Young participant members of the European Youth Dance Project, Nima Kiann's newly launched integration and peace project, performed four ballets from Les Ballets Persans' repertoire: Turquoise Land which was exclusively choreographed for this event, Rumi-Rumi, La Femme and SimayJan-the Gilani Girl.
After broadcasting messages from prominent cultural and artistic personalities to the audience on the occasion of Nima Kiann's celebration gala performance, the founder of Toos Foundation handed over the Ferdowsi Prize to him commenting: "I am proud of young artists such as Nima Kiann who, having been forced into the same fate of exile, have nevertheless kept and safeguarded the torch of love and peace."
