Miriam Peretz weaves movement and ritual to create safe, communal spaces for healing and empowered embodiment. She is a lifelong dancer and movement educator devoted to the healing art of dance and the study of sacred movement practices from around the world. Her focus has been on dances from Central Asia and the Middle East, as well as the mystical practices of Sufi whirling and ritual. Miriam’s work consistently weaves dance with embodied spirituality and devotion, drawing on her personal practice as a dervish and her background as a child of mystics. She sees dance as a uniquely powerful means of expressing deep emotion and spiritual yearning, and therefore as a profound embodiment of prayer.
Miriam is the creator of Nava Dance, Nava Movement, and Integral Dance—modalities for holistic dance practice that weave traditional dance forms with somatic inquiry, embodied intention, and breath awareness. She holds a master’s of fine arts degree from Mills College at Northeastern University, where she studied contemporary dance, choreography, and somatics.