About the Artist

Ghazal Ramzani is an Iranian, Berlin-based interdisciplinary artist, Kathak dancer, choreographer, facilitator, and researcher working at the intersection of decolonial practice and speculative choreography across stage and film. Her work investigates erased movement histories, develops counter-techniques grounded in marginalized genealogies, and cultivates collective authorship within embodied practice.

She is the founder of Kathak Dance School Berlin and co-founder of Kalatva Collective, and collaborates internationally across artistic and academic contexts.

Her debut dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins was selected for numerous international dance film festivals, including the Cannes Dance Film Festival and Multiplié Dance Film Festival in Trondheim. She has been an artist in residence at Alfred University (NY), received a research grant from the Ionian University (Greece), and her work has been supported by Spore Initiative, the Goethe-Institut, and the Kemmler Foundation.

Ghazal holds an MFA in Contemporary Performative Arts (Gothenburg), a Diploma in Kathak (New Delhi), and a BA in Philosophy / Arts / Media.

Forthcoming

July 2026 OAK Spring Interdisciplinary Residency program - Upperville-VA, United States

September 2026 Goethe Institute research grant - New Delhi, India

Awards, Stipends, Residencies

November 2025 Kemmler working grant for ongoing artistic research “Choreographies of Erasure”

February 2025  IEA Artist in Residence program, Alfred University - Alfred-NY, United States

2024 Travel grant of Rewilding cultures program, Ionian University - Corfu, Greece

2024 Multiplié Dance Film, Official Selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins,Trondheim, Norway

2024 Dance Film Making 2024, official Selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins

2023 Finalist of Cannes Dance Film Festival / MOV’IN Cannes with dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, France

2023 Dança em foco, Official Selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, Rio De Janero, Brazil

2023 NeosFest, Honourable Mention of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins,Monterey, Mexico

2023 Lift-Off Global Network/First Time Filmmaker Sessions, Official selection of dance film Self-Portrait and Other Ruins (Iver, UK)

2022 Göthe Institute international artist residency program, Banaras, India

2020 Artistens Vanner scholarship, Gothenburg, Sweden

2015-2018 Indian Council of Cultural Relations student scholarship, New Delhi, India

Projects

Since 2025 Ongoing project “Choreographies of Erasure” (supported by Kemmler foundation and Spore Initiative)

2022 Protest Dance Piece: Revolution of Bodies, co-choreographer and performer with Saeed Asadsangabi, Berlin, Germany

2021 Self-Portrait and Other Ruins, Dance Film production as part of the MFA-project, produced in Qaemshahr, Iran

2020 Maمآ , international video performance festival Dislocada, Columbia and India

2018 Kali, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, India

2017-2018 Kalatva Collective, New Delhi, India

2016 Tarana, Queer Carnival-Göthe Institut, New Delhi, India

Exhibitions

13 May-27 May 2025 Solo Exhibitions “Self-Portrait and Other Ruins” at Vagon Gallery - Banjaluka , Bosnia and Herzegovina

Publications and Interview

1. Embodied Defiance: Exploring Indigenous Dances as practices of Anti-Colonial and Ecological Reclamation - Research report for Rewilding Cultures Mobility program

2. Vagon Gallery Interview on the Exhibition / Dance film installation “Self-Portrait and Other Ruins

3. A review of “Beyond Beyond” (performance installation)

Collaborations

June 2025 Performance Installation Installation: “Beyond-Beyond” by MØR collective, choreographer and Performer - Copenhagen, Denmark

2023 Short Film: In the darkened room, directed by Sina Aghazadeh, choreographer, DFFB, Berlin, Germany

2022 Music Video: Butchers Tale by Ella Bergström, co-directior, performer and choreographer for music video “Hemmavals”, Gothenburg, Sweden

2020 Video Installation: Geography of Hate by Sujatro Ghosh, Choreohraphy and Dance, Oyoun, Berlin, Germany

2016 Surshree-Dance and Percussion Duo by Ghazal Ramzani and Renu Hussain, choreography and dance, Mindpirates, Berlin, Germany

Projects as stage dancer

2022 Performer in installation-performance by Eva Koťátková as part of the exhibition „YOYI!care, Repair,Heal“, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin Germany

2017 Kathak Dancer at Guru bin aisi kaun kare by Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Mahotsav Festival, Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India

2016 Dancer at WEME Ensemble, artistic director Fakhroddin Ghaffari, International Art Festival DIAF, Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, India

2016 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav Festival, Kathak Kendra, Jaipur, India

2016 Kathak Dancer at Swami, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Vivikananda Auditorium, New Delhi, India

2016 Kathak Dancer at Guru, Choreography Saroja Vaidyanathan and Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kumbh Mala festival, Ujjain, India

2016 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav Festival, Gurgaon, India

2016 Kathak Dancer at Basant, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Kathak Utsav, Chandigarh, India

2015 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, ICCR Alumni Awards, New Delhi, India

2014 Kathak Dancer at Sargam, Choreography Pt. Rajendra K. Gangani, Junges Theater, Göttingen, Germany

Teaching

2024 Guest Mentor at HZT, Berlin Germany

2023 Kathak Instructor at Moving through styles workshop series, Tanzfabrik, Berlin, Germany

2019-2024 Instructor for Kathak, Global Music Academy, Berlin, Germany

2023 Performance-Workshop for Rainwater Symphony at Floating University, Berlin, Germany

2020 Kathak Instructor at Theatre House Da, Tehran, Iran

2019 Dance Facilitator at Hella Mädchenklub, Berlin, Germany

2018 Dancer and dance educator at Performance-Workshop Series in schools in collaboration with NGO Music Basti, New Delhi, India

2018 Kathak instructor at kathak Workshop for adults Tandem Festival, Oxford, UK

2018 Kathak instructor at kathak Workshop for Tap Dancers, Michał Wierzbowski dance group, Warsaw, Poland

2018 Dance Facilitator at summer intensive music and dance workshop for girls at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Göttingen, Germany

2017 Dance Facilitator at summer intensive music and dance workshop for girls at OM10, Göttingen, Germany

2017 Dance Facilitator at Familien für Kinder / 1zu1 für Flüchtlingskinder, Berlin, Germany

Education

2020-2022 M.F.A. Contemporary Performative Arts, Academy of Music and Drama-University of Gothenburg, Sweden

2015-2018 Diploma Classical Kathak Dance, Kathak Kendra-National School of Kathak Dance,India, New Delhi

2009-2014 B.A. Philosophy, Arts, Media, Universität Hildesheim, Germany