Modern-day Iran comprises a multitude of cultural, linguistic and ethnic traditions. Many people who consider traditional folk dances charming and innocent and dancing at weddings to be a joyous activity may consider professional dancers to be corrupt and immoral. This hypocrisy and the stigma regarding the dancing body, particularly the female solo dancer, have resulted in the loss of much of Persian cultural expression.

There is also a large divide between attitudes toward dance in public versus private spaces, for men versus women and among civilians of metropolitan cities versus conservative towns. For me and many others, life in Iran can be described as living in perpetual duality: It requires observation of the regulations when outside, but simultaneously offers the ability to dance and have relative freedom within the privacy of one's home.

This relative freedom requires keeping a low profile or paying hefty bribes due to the constant fear of the morality police, the pasdaran (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) or the basij militia (who receive their orders from the Revolutionary Guards and the Supreme Leader) who can break into homes to arrest and punish suspected offenders. There is the potential for beatings, torture, prison sentences and fines for dancing.

Like life in Iran, dance is also a dual concept. On one hand, it is thought to be disgraceful and shameful to move one's body (especially in solo improvisations by women). On the other, it is a symbol of joy, celebration and unity.

There are four general categories of dance in Iran:

Folk dances, including line dances (named after the village or tribe with which they are associated)
Solo improvised dances (delicate and graceful movements which are related to the Safavid and Qajar court dances that are generally danced in urban or private settings),
Combat dances (athletic motions which imitate combat and were once used to train warriors) performed in the Zoorkhaneh (roughly translated as "House of Strength")
Spiritual dances (ritual dances of the Sufis or dervishes)

Classical ballet is regarded as an elite Western art form; therefore, in comparison to solo improvised dances, ballet is respected as a superior dance. In pre-revolutionary Iran, the government helped in creating national dance companies to perform theatricalized, sterilized and "respectable" versions (i.e., with minimal hip movement and loose-fitting costumes) of regional folk and solo dances within Western choreographic frameworks. They hired Western ballet choreographers, like former Royal Ballet dancer Robert de Warren, to teach and train these dance companies. This was thought to lend an air of seriousness and professionalism.

In an attempt to create a façade of cultural elevation, folk and solo dances were Westernized and irrevocably altered to mimic the movements of the invited colonizer. Due to this assimilation and appropriation, much of the history and tradition of folk dances may have been lost.