Iranian National Ballet

The resident dance company of Roudaki Hall Opera House in Teheran. It was founded 1967/8 and sponsored in part by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Arts, under the artistic direction of Robert de Warren. It began with a dozen dancers and by 1978 had expanded to 46, one-third being Iranian. The repertory had works by Ailey and Cullberg as well as several classics. Heaton staged Giselle in 1970 and Coppélia in 1971 and Chabukiani mounted Swan Lake in 1970-1. De Warren left in 1971 and was succeeded by A. Ahmadzadeh and later by Ali Pourfarrokh. It was dissolved after the revolution of 1979.