Artistic Director, Laurel Victoria Gray     Ms. Gray captures the beauty and splendor of Persian classical dance underneath Washington, D.C.'s cherry blossoms, Spring, 1999. Laurel Victoria Gray is an internationally acclaimed dancer, scholar, instructor, and choreographer who has taught and performed throughout Europe, Central Asia, Australia, the United States and Canada. She in the recipient of the 1999 International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Award for Ethnic Dancer. Ms. Gray's articles have appeared in many publications including the Oxford University Press International Encyclopedia of Dance, the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theater and the Encyclopedia of Modern Asia and Dance magazine as well as journals in Germany and Australia. She has lectured for the Middle East Institute and Humanities West and the Assembly of Turkish American Associations. Washington DC performances include the National Press Club, the Smithsonian Institution, the Washington Monument, and the Uzbek Embassy (for President Islam Karimov.) Although her early dance training included ballet, tap, folk and modern dance, Ms. Gray discovered Arabic dance as an undergraduate at Occidental College. While enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Washington, she assisted in hosting a delegation of dancers from Uzbekistan and first became exposed to this rare, intricate form. She has traveled to Uzbekistan ten times, living there for two years and appearing on television dance programs over a dozen times. She was a member of the jury for the 1997 International Music Festival "Sharq Taronalari" (Melodies of the East) which was held in Samarkand and for the 1993 Uzbekistan Puppet Theater Festival. Ms. Gray has been a guest instructor at all the major Middle Eastern dance camps and retreats held annually in the United States, including the Mendocino Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp, the Oasis Dance Camp, Delilah's Visionary Retreat in Maui, Morocco's week-long seminar in NYC, and the Central Asian Dance Camp. In 1999, she studied Egyptian folklore in Cairo. Ms. Gray is also the founder and president of the Uzbek Dance and Culture Society, and has photographs on display in the Museum of Peace and Solidarity in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Ms. Gray has taught Russian and Soviet History at North Seattle Community College. She was an education outreach instructor for New York's City Center Theater in 1990, introducing thousands of Middle School students to Georgian dance. In the fall of 1999, Ms. Gray taught at the Institute of Theater Arts at George Mason University. For several years she gave instruction in traditional Persian dance at the Iranian Community School in Vienna, Virginia; she currently teaches eight weekly classes at the Joy of Motion Dance Center in Washington, DC (www.joyofmotion.org). In the fall of 2002 she presented a course of dances of the Islamic world at George Washington University. On November 10, 2001, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented "Remembering the Legends: Women of the Silk Road" on the Millennium Stage. Ms. Gray created the concept, choreography, and costume design for this project which was performed by the Silk Road Dance Company. For up-to-date information on Laurel's extensive teaching and workshop offerings, plus wonderful archives of her articles and costumes, please see her web site: laurelvictoriagray.com