GENEVA (AFP) - Farah Pahlavi the former Empress of Iran was among the many guests at weekend celebrations in Switzerland to mark the 80th birthday of one of the finest choreographers of the 20th century, Maurice Béjart, his dance company said. Lausanne for 19 years. Béjart made an important contribution to the Persian Ballet Repertoire in the 1960s and 1970s at the Roudaki Hall in Tehran, created under the supervision of the empress, Shahbanou Farah Pahlavi. Others present in the city of Lausanne to pay homage to the French-born artist on Saturday included Russian-born ballet star Mikail Barashnykof, Soprano Julia Migenes sang "Happy Birthday" and actor Jean-Claude Brialy gave a speech. Former director of the Opera National de Paris dance school, Claude Bessy, joined choreographer John Neumeier and Farah Pahlavi, to extend their best wishes. Maurice Béjart in the bottom photo below thanks everyone.
NB. 
Maurice Béjart, one of the world's most renowned choreographers, travelled widely in Iran in the 1970s and became deeply drawn to its art and culture. With his “Ballet du XXème siècle” he appeared several times at the Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of Arts, presenting  works he had created for the occasion. Amongst these were “Golestan”  a ballet based on a passage of Sa’di’s book of the same name and “Farah” based on poems by Rumi and other sufi poets, both with  Iranian traditional music accompaniment performed by Iranian musicians and singers such as Nourredin Razavi Sarvestani & Dariush Tala’i etc... "Heliogabalus" was another world premiere in Shiraz in. All these ballets were later presented in Brussels where Béjart was based at the time. He later moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and founded his “Béjart Ballet Lausanne”
On December 30, 2006, friends and artists from all over the world gathered in Lausanne to celebrate the eightieth birthday of this great artist who continues to produce new works to critical acclaim. Present at the ceremony was HIM Farah Pahlavi. There has always been mutual respect between the Shahbanou and Maurice Béjart who has remained a true and loyal friend for the Empress throughout her difficult years in exile. Present at the ceremony was  Her Imperial Majesty Farah Pahlavi. There has always been a mutual respect between the Shahbanou Farah and  Maurice Béjart who has remained a true and loyal friend for her and the Iranian culture she loves.

 A passage from from famed Persian Poet Sa'di: (SAADI)
Of what use will be a dish of roses to you
Take one page from this rose garden of mine
A rose only lives for five or six days
The joy from my rose garden always stays 

One of the devout who had deeply plunged his head into the cowl of meditation and had been immersed in the ocean of visions, was asked, when he had come out of that state, by one of his companions who had desired to cheer him up: ‘What beautiful gift hast thou brought us from the garden in which thou hast been?’ He replied: ‘I intended to fill the skirts of my robe with roses, when I reached the rose-tree, as presents for my friends but the perfume of the flowers intoxicated me so much that I let go the hold of my skirts.’ was also praised by the French poet Marceline Desbordes Valmore  in her poem “Les Roses de Saadi

J'ai voulu ce matin te rapporter des roses,
Mais j'en avais tant pris dans mes ceintures closes,
Que les nœuds trop serrés n'ont pu les contenir.
Les nœuds ont éclaté. Les roses envolées
Dans le vent, à la mer, s'en sont toutes allées,
Elles ont suivi l'eau pour ne plus revenir.
La vague en a paru rouge et comme enflammée.
Ce soir, ma robe encore en est tout embaumée…
Respires-en sur moi l'odorant souvenir.

Click here English  translation of Golestan by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) available online

Also see articles by Darius Kadivar in Persian Mirror

The Empress with Maurice Béjart at the Shiraz Festival - Right a poster and photo from Rudaki Hall Tehran

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