Watertown TAB & Press , MA
Feb 20 2010

Watertown Armenian dance group Sayat Nova closes longtime show

By Jen Thomas, staff writer
Wicked Local Watertown

WATERTOWN ‘ Louisa Ouzounian hasn’t always been a dancer.

But the 29-year-old Watertown resident walked into the Sayat Nova
dance studio 11 years ago, and she’s never looked back.

`I was really intimidated at first,’ said Ouzounian of the dance
company, which mostly performs traditional Armenian folk dance. `But
eventually the steps come along, and it became a passion.’

Sayat Nova will perform their show ` `Dances of Armenia: Journey to
the Regions’ ` next weekend at the Arsenal Center for the Arts. The
14-piece show will mark the end of the program the company has run for
the last six years.

According to Apo Ashjian, the nonprofit group’s director and
choreographer, the 70-member troupe has performed the program ` called
`Power in Rhythm’ across the U.S. and Canada, in Armenia and even on a
Caribbean cruise earlier this year.

`We’re putting the show to a close, and we get to do it in our
hometown,’ said Ashjian, who founded Sayat Nova Dance Company in 1986.

The show will feature 16 men and 24 women performing to traditional
Armenian music that combines elements of Armenian ethnographic dance
and poetic storytelling.

`Armenian music talks to me, and I turn stories about our historical
past into dance,’ Ashjian said. `I love to tell my stories to
non-Armenians, because I like to share our history.’

Many of the dances are meant not only to weave tales about Armenian
history, but also to lead the audience on a journey through the
regions of the company’s beloved country. Other numbers detail what
Ashjian calls the tragic nature of Armenians’ past; one recounts the
painful story of Armenians forced to march through the desert during
the genocide in 1915.

`These dances symbolize something. They say something,’ said Jack
Keverian, 23, a financial advisor and six-year member of the group.

Even after members leave the area, they return for Sayat Nova. For the
Arsenal performance, eight dancers will travel from as far as
California, Pennsylvania and Montreal to be a part of the show.

`It’s not just the footwork or the handwork. It’s the energy,’ said
Garen Avetissyan, the group’s general manager. `It’s powerful. It’s
energetic. You feel really great after you’ve danced.’

When Ouzounian spent two years living in Berlin, she would sometimes
fly in for the weekend just to perform with the company.

`It’s like a family,’ she said. `No matter what, even if you left, if
your family needed you, you would come back. You can’t let go.’

Nancy Maserejian, a 33-year-old epidemiologist from Waltham, has been
dancing with Sayat Nova since 1998 and is a last-minute addition to
the Arsenal show’s cast. And the mother of toddler twins would never
consider giving up her membership in the dance group.

`You find time for it, because you love it,’ she said.

The group makes it a priority to maintain close ties with Armenia.
Their music is composed and recorded in Armenia, and each of the 1,500
costumes the company owns were designed and tailored in the country.

As the final performance of `Power in Rhythm’ nears, Ashjian said he
is already looking ahead and has choreographed most of the next
program, which will make its debut to coincide with the group’s 25th
anniversary in 2011.

Ouzounian called the closing of a chapter `bittersweet.’

`It’s good to move onto something else, but I’ll miss [the old
project], because it was always dynamic and powerful,’ she said.

tertainment/arts/x640757112/Watertown-Armenian-dan ce-group-Sayat-Nova-closes-longtime-show
From: Baghdasarian