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The Caravan marked the beginning of the Studio for the Revival of the Classical Arts, a dance company that became highly successful in embodying the modernist idea of Iran as an ancient nation. In light of the studio’s focus on nationhood it was curious that the mastermind of the dance company was the American Nilla Cram Cook, the cultural attaché of the U.S. embassy and an orientalist scholar in both senses of the word. As recounted by Nesta, one of the dancers, in her memoir ‘The Dance of the Rose and the Nightingale’, Nila strove to ensure that the dances performed by the group were rooted in history and poetry, thus becoming a “celebration of Iran’s great past.”
