# Anthony Shay > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anthony_Shay > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anthony_Shay.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Shay > Source revision: 1355688648 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) '''Anthony Shay''' is a [dancer](/source/dancer) and [choreographer](/source/choreographer) specializing in dances from [Eastern Europe](/source/Eastern_Europe), the [Middle East](/source/Middle_East), [North Africa](/source/North_Africa), and [Central Asia](/source/Central_Asia). In 50 years of work he has created over 200 choreographies. Shay created and directed several dance groups: ''Village Dancers'', ''AMAN Folk Ensemble'' (AMAN International Music and Dance Company, Los Angeles, California, 1963–1977), and ''AVAZ International Dance Theatre'' (since 1977). In 1977 Shay earned a Ph.D. in dance history and theory from the [University of California, Riverside](/source/University_of_California%2C_Riverside), where he teaches dances of [Iranian culture](/source/Iranian_culture) and M.A. degrees in [anthropology](/source/anthropology), [folklore](/source/folklore) and [mythology](/source/mythology) from [California State University, Los Angeles](/source/California_State_University%2C_Los_Angeles) and [UCLA](/source/UCLA). On November 18, 1995, Shay received commendations from President [Bill Clinton](/source/Bill_Clinton) and the City Council of [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles) for excellence of his choreographies, honoring his forty years as a choreographic artist, during which he created over 150 works. The [Kaleidescope Festival](/source/Kaleidescope_Festival) has designated him as Distinguished California Artist in 1997. Dr. Anthony Shay has been awarded a [James Irvine Fellowship in Dance](/source/James_Irvine_Fellowship_in_Dance) for 1998 as one of the eight top choreographers in [California](/source/California) with a $30,000 fellowship for research in Iranian art. In 1999, he received the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles [Lester Horton](/source/Lester_Horton) award for Outstanding Achievement for the Staging of Traditional Dance. He is a five-time recipient of choreographic fellowship awards from the [National Endowment for the Arts](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts). He is also an author of several books about dance, and has published numerous articles in the [Oxford](/source/OUP) Encyclopedia of Dance, the [Journal of Iranian Studies](/source/Journal_of_Iranian_Studies), [Dance Research Journal](/source/Dance_Research_Journal), and the [Journal of Visual Anthropology](/source/Journal_of_Visual_Anthropology). In 2002, the [California Arts Council](/source/California_Arts_Council) awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award for “His Incomparable Service to the Art of Dance.” Congress on Research in Dance honored, among others, Anthony Shay in 2003 (''[Dance Magazine](/source/Dance_Magazine)'', September 2003). ==Bibliography== *Choreophobia: Solo Improvised Dance in the Iranian World. Mazda Publishers, {{ISBN|1-56859-083-0}} (1999) *Choreographic Politics: State Folk Dance Ensembles, Representation and Power, [Wesleyan University Press](/source/Wesleyan_University_Press), 2002. *Belly Dance: Orientalism, Transnationalism, And Harem Fantasy (Bibliotheca Iranica. Performing Arts Series) by Anthony Shay and Barbara Sellers-Young, 2005 *Choreographing Identities: Folk Dance, Ethnicity And Festival in the United States And Canada, 2006 *Choreographic Politics: State Folk Dance Companies, Representation, and Power, Wesleyan University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8195-6520-2}} ==References== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070203100847/http://www.dance.ucr.edu/people/alumni/index.html UC Riverside Dept of Dance alumni] ==External links== *[http://www.stanford.edu/group/psa/events/1998-99/avaz/index.utf8.html AVAZ website] at stanford.edu *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150108042833/http://www.pomona.edu/academics/departments/dance/faculty/anthony-shay.aspx Pomona College Dance Department] at pomona.edu {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Shay, Anthony}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:American male dancers Category:American choreographers Category:Dance historians Category:University of California, Riverside, alumni Category:University of California, Riverside faculty --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Anthony Shay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Shay) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Shay?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.