FEB 22 | 2:15 PM

The Golden Road to Samarkand brings the fabled Central Asian city to life with exciting dance traditions and sumptuous costumes. Named for the eponymous poem by James Elroy Fletcher, this current production updates the 2006 premiere with new choreographies and elements performed by Silk Road Dance Company® and guest artists. Stay for the post-show artist talk-back. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Dr. Laurel Victoria Gray, the award-winning Silk Road Dance Company (SRDC) presents traditional and contemporary women's dances from Central Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, China, and the Caucasus. Their pioneering performances offer a unique glimpse of the life and art of little- known cultures, especially the Islamic world. Silk Road Dance Company has performed internationally in Uzbekistan, Qatar, Singapore, Canada, and the UK. Nationally they have performed in 18 states and at some of the most prestigious venues in the Washington DC area, including the White House, the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress. Silk Road Dance Company has performed for Empress Farah Pahlavi and HM Queen Rania of Jordan; SRDC has also been featured at events for fourteen different embassies. They are often engaged by cultural organizations in the Iranian, Afghan, Turkish, Arab and Central Asian communities.
With an impressive repertoire of more than 200 dances, Silk Road Dance Company offers programs with a depth reflecting decades of field research and study by Dr. Gray who has received many awards for her lifetime of creative work. Company dancers have also studied and traveled extensively throughout the East.

Silk Road Dance Company enchants audiences with beautiful and inspiring productions. Dressed in breath-taking costumes, the ensemble performs Afghani, Albanian, Algerian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Bollywood, Classical Persian, Crimean Tatar, Egyptian, Georgian, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Montenegrin, Moroccan, Qashqai, Russian Romani (“Gypsy”), Tajik, Turkmen, Uzbek, and Uyghur dances.