Namus Zöhrabov

I was born in May 15, 1959 in Baku, Azerbaijan. I took my first dance lessons in the youth palace in Baku. Very quickly I was noticed as a talented and a promising dancer. I was invited to the Children’s Dance Group “Djudjalerim”. At the age of twelve in 1971 with the “Djudjalerim” I went to Bulgaria for a tour. That was my first out of state trip. In 1972 I was within 15 first students to be accepted to The State Ballet School of Baku for the experimental class of The State Dance Ensemble of Azerbaijan and graduated in 1975. At those years not every folk dancer had a ballet education background; therefore, I found myself more as an academic style dancer after graduating the ballet school. I was only fifteen years old when I got invited to the State Song and Dance Ensemble of Azerbaijan and in a year started performing in a new program of the State Dance Ensemble. The same year I applied and got accepted to the leading North Caucasian State Dance Ensemble of Dagestan “Lezginka” during the new company’s program. Additional two years of experience with “Lezginka” gave me more dance accomplishments. Learning and performing in Caucasians and North Caucasian styles of dances gave me an outstanding knowledge of a dance vocabulary. In 1977 I returned to the State Dance Ensemble of Azerbaijan as one of the leading dancers and very soon started dancing as a soloist. In 1986 I received the State honorary title of a Merited Artist of Azerbaijan for outstanding contributions to the sphere of the art of Azerbaijan dance. From 1986 to 1991 was a choreographer at the State Dance Ensemble of Azerbaijan. In 1992 I also worked as a manager of the dance group at the State Theater of Song of Rashid Beybutov. During twenty years of work I repeatedly toured in all fifteen republics of the former Soviet Union and I also went with concerts to the United States, Israel, France, Holland, Finland, Austria, Germany, Iraq, Turkey and Tunisia. In 1995 I retired and moved to the USA with my family and I currently live in Los Angeles, California. But I never stopped dancing. I continue performing and have already been in more than fifteen states with my dances. Member of the International Dance Council-CID. Since 2001 I also do practice dance therapy with senior citizens in Adult Health Day Care Centers.