Romance and Revolution: A Leap of Faith at the Iranian National Ballet

Set against the glamorous backdrop of the Iranian National Ballet Company in 1970s Tehran, Romance and Revolution is the compelling memoir of Clair Symonds, a naïve 19 year old Jewish dancer who grew up in apartheid South Africa, who sets off to join the national ballet company in Iran. Within a few months she has met and fallen in love with Arash Alizadeh, a dashing student of architecture. Much to both sets of parents' disdain, they marry, although Clair's Jewish roots are kept strictly under wraps. But Arash proves to be more charming in courtship and seduction than in wedlock and matrimony. Undeterred, Clair decides to marry for a second time. Does love conquer all? Are religious and cultural differences insurmountable? Read and decide for yourself.

Clair Symonds - She might as well have been born with pointe shoes on her feet, for Clair Symonds was destined it seems, to spend the best part of her life in dance studios and ballet companies. Having grown up in apartheid South Africa, she enrolled at the Royal Ballet School in London at the age of 17. Two years later she successfully auditioned for the Iranian National Ballet Company - even though she had little idea of where that country was located. Performing soloist roles in many of the major classics, including Giselle, Swan Lake and Les Sylphides, she met and married her husband Arash Alizadeh while working there. She was subsequently engaged as a lead in the Irish Ballet Company based in Cork. She traveled all over the world with the Alexander Roy London Ballet Theatre performing in India, Taiwan, Malta and Brunei. She has appeared regularly at the London Coliseum as a dancer with the English National Opera - performing in numerous operas including The Mikado on no less than 85 occasions. Although she has always claimed that her ‘brains were in her feet’, she recently disproved that assertion by completing a Bachelor of Arts degree with the Open University.

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