Born in Germany, Rana Gorgani spent her teenage years in France where she quickly joined various theater groups. At the age of 14, she travelled for the first time to Iran, her parents’ country of origin, and discovered the mystical Sufi world thanks to the Daf (a drum accompanying ritual chants), as well as Sufi dance. Essentially practiced by men, the whirling dervishes, this one is characterized by a continuous rotary movement involving the body in a modified state of consciousness. It is a revelation for her. A return to the roots. While continuing to travel to Iran, where her thirst for spirituality led her to join Sufi brotherhoods, she continued her French schooling. After graduating with a literary baccalaureate, she was accepted at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Paris, where she trained in acting and directing. She understands from this time the capital role played by the costumes in a show.
Rana Gorgani not only dances, but also creates the costumes and choreography for unique works that play with the boundaries between genres.
In 2017, she opened her trance art by working with contemporary dance and circus companies.
She will dance to electronic music, classical music, jazz, etc.
It is at this period that she no longer goes on stage with a veil, as it is done in Iran to break with the folkloric side.
Strong of keeping her artistic freedom, she refuses to become a Sufi master and leaves the brotherhoods.
In 2018, she collaborated with the Haïdouti Orkestar, a Turkish orchestra of Balkan music, and danced at the Opéra Garnier for Longchamp’s seventieth anniversary.
The whirling dervish travels a lot to spread the Samâ dance. She remains one of the few Sufi artists to perform in public and regularly organizes performances and participates in many festivals. Far from dogmas and always in this will of opening, she tries in her teaching to put the light on the philosophical aspect of Sufism in order to be able to touch the greatest number. To transmit this practice, which she defines as the expression of the joy of being in movement on Earth, she uses a rigorous initiatory dance technique inspired by the rituals of the Sufi brotherhoods and mixes poetry and song with dance. In her workshops or retreats, she invites to an inner journey…