بیژن کلانتری

In 1969, he organized “An Evening of Ballet,” a critically acclaimed dance program to present young leading dancers from Germany and the United States at the stage of Roudaki Hall Opera. The following fall season, the 29-year-old Bijan Kalantari, who at the time was working in the United States, moved to Tehran and established a new ballet department at Tehran’s Music Conservatory under the auspices of the Minister of Culture and Arts. From the very beginning, he dreamed of creating an all-Persian ballet company capable of performing worldwide. Kalantari is credited for bringing an efficient ballet training method to Iran. His school existed for six years. He left Iran in 1975 because of being trapped by the bureaucratic machinery at work, despite receiving encouragement at the very top level. By leaving Iran, he also left the dance profession to become a successful businessman.