This is an example of persian dance! People want to be happy. Let them be happy!
Go ahead and dance. That seems to be the message from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in an apparent response to the arrest of a group of young Iranians who posted a homemade video set to the Pharrell Williams hit “Happy.”
The seeds of modern Persian classical dance were sown during the Qajar dynasty (1780-1906). Fath 'Ali Shah (1798-1834) in particular devoted a great deal of the royal treasury to all forms of art, including dance. He was said to have "maintained a stately court and a large harem or anderun full of ladies groomed to the perfection of Persian taste for the amusement and pleasure of the Shah" . His successor, his grandson Muhammad Shah, furthered the support of dance, and "the dancing girls, those lavishly decorated women who typified the luxurious living of the monarchy" .
"The most beautiful women in Persia are devoted to the profession of dancing; the transparency of their shift, which is the only covering they use to conceal their persons, the exquisite symmetry of their forms, their apparent agitation, and the licentiousness of their verses, are so many incentives to a passion which requires more philosophy than the Persians possess to restrain."
After the Constitutional Revolution of 1906, Persia became increasingly influenced by the West, largely as a result of political intrigues with Russia, England, and Germany. The decline in the monarchy was paralleled by a decline in the support and status of dancers.
