Tanin Torabi | طنین ترابی
Dance Artist | Filmmaker | Researcher
Tanin Torabi is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and choreographer acclaimed for her innovative single-take short dance films created in Tehran, described by critics as “pushing the boundaries of screendance.” In 2021, Dance Magazine recognized her as one of the “9 Screendance Artists You Should Know.”
Over the past decade, Tanin’s films have been showcased at more than 300 film festivals and academic institutions worldwide. She has conducted workshops at esteemed institutions such as The Place London, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, Villa Arson, ArtEZ Arnhem, Mov’in Cannes, and Tetralab Screendance, to name a few.
Her recent accolades include the esteemed Cinedans Grand Jury Prize, ZED Festival’s Best Original Storytelling Prize, and the AVIFF Festival Jury Award for her 2022 film Until. Her 2017 film The Dérive remains one of the most frequently showcased dance films at festivals, earning numerous awards including the Best Film Prize at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Dance Camera West, and Southampton Film Week. Over the years, Tanin has received awards in categories such as Creative Vision, Best Artist Film, Best Inspirational Film, Best Inspiring Woman in a Film, Best Experimental Film, and Best Documentary. Critics and juries have described her works as rebellious, wordless yet expressive, inspiring, evocative of real life, emblematic and poignant, and empowering to women.
Her most recent film collaboration is the choreography and co-production of The Guardian short dance film written and directed by Milad Sanaei. Tanin’s newest film “In Passing” is currently in the research and pre-production phase.
In 2024, Tanin received a 7-month bursary from the Institut Français to conduct choreographic research at the Cité Internationale des Arts residency in Paris. She was also invited as an Associate Artist for Dance Limerick in Ireland, where she conducted workshops for the joint programs of the University of Limerick and Light Moves Festival, while continuing her choreographic research. She previously have received residencies from Montpellier Danse, the Flanders Institute, and the Berlin Akademie der Künste.
Currently, she is the artist-in-residence at Villa Arson, Nice (2024–2025), in collaboration with Collège de France, where she actively engages in pedagogical programs, offers mentorship, and works on her screendance projects and writings. Her courses include Movement in Focus: A Playground, and she collaborates on interdisciplinary offerings like Drawing & Architecture with Caroline Challan Belval. Tanin is also a regular lecturer at the prestigious Sciences Po University by giving her course Embodied Knowledges: Understanding, Communicating and Preserving Through Body & Lens. She also engages with interdisciplinary research practices including research on dance and architecture organised by Bita Azimi at École Nationale Superieure d’architecture de Paris.
As a choreographer and performer, Tanin has collaborated with numerous international artists, including NYC-based choreographer Yoshiko Chuma (Head in the Sand, Zooma – Dead End), curator Cassandre Langlois, choreographer Sina Saberi (Narges), and music artist Setareh Rahnama (Sheno), among many others.
In 2024, she presented collaborative performances with figurative painter Gabriel Schmitz (Somewhere Along the Line) and visual artist Nathalie Joffre (Constalatas, Nuit Blanche Paris). Her choreography and performance work spans various formats including film, installation, and stage.
Tanin holds an MA in Contemporary Dance from the University of Limerick in Ireland and a BA in Sociology from BIHE (Iran). Her work has been reviewed and discussed in academic publications such as Women, Art, Freedom: Artists and Street Politics in Iran (Leuven University Press, 2024) by Pamela Karimi, Politics of Visual Arts in a Changing World (Columbia University Press, 2024), and FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism by Saba Zaverei.
Contact:
info@tanintorabi.art
www.tanintorabi.art
Instagram: @tanintorabi