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Finding Him

I searched high and low for him. I could find some small references to his name in New York City Ballet rosters and dated ballet reviews in The New York Times, but there were no pictures of him, and the few leads I found about his whereabouts were dead ends. I searched his famous father one time, and found the name of a woman writer and translator who was his artistic associate in the US. I contacted Jahanshah and asked him if he knew this woman and where I could reach her. He said she lives in Austin, Texas, and forwarded her email address to me. I contacted her, telling her that I was looking for this ballet dancer and whether she could help me find him. The wonderful woman immediately wrote back, giving me his email address. I had to sit down and think about what to do with it now! Several days later, I found the courage to write to him, introducing myself, and telling him about my association with his grandmother and my search for him. He wrote back soon:

Dear Nazy,

No need to apologize for wanting to write about me. I am flattered! I mean, who wouldn't like someone tracking them down and wanting to write about them?!! Maybe I could be famous for another 15 minutes after your article! But seriously, I don't mind it at all. My career as a dancer in New York was at its peak during the early years of the Revolution and consequently not a lot of Iranian immigrants in this country were in a position to even care about such things as ballet or the fine arts in general. So I have been unknown to most. This has always been a sore point for me (but without blaming anyone and understanding the time frame), because even though I received praises from the audiences here and had articles written about me from Newsweek to the Times, there has not been any mention of my work anywhere in the Iranian media be it Farsi or English and no recognition form my own people. So I welcome and appreciate you for wanting to do this. How interesting that you were my beloved grandparents' neighbor! I miss them very much. Was this at the apartment in Vanak? Anyway. You can get in touch with me either by mail or call me on my cell phone or at home.