ZULEYKHA ODYSSEY: DANCING WITH LOVE IN SEVEN VALLEYS

Librettist and Composer:  Afarin Mansouri

Director and Dramaturg: Renee Salewski

An Opera in 2 Act    ca. 100 min

Stage of Development: 

2020: First Scene was filmed   with support of Watershed Festival and Heliconia Club and Loose Tea Theatre

2022: The first workshop with the support of  Loose Tea Theatre Summer work Music festival in 2022. 

2025: 2nd Act workshop: With support from Toronto Arts Council  as well as Tapestry Opera, we have been able to run the 2nd stage workshop in Spring 2026. 

Zuleykha Odyssey: Dancing with Love in Seven Valleys invites audiences to experience a journey of sound, spirit, and poetry—where East meets West, and where love becomes both the question and the answer. It is the unfolding of a soul seeking wholeness. From earthly passion to cosmic bewilderment, through pain, joy, and transformation, Zuleykha journeys beyond the self—discovering love not as desire, but as divine essence.

Synopsis:

Zuleykha, a legendary figure from Middle Eastern spiritual tradition, is remembered in classical literature as the woman whose consuming love for Joseph became both her trial and her path to enlightenment. Historically portrayed as a symbol of temptation and longing, she has often been defined by her unfulfilled desire.

In this reimagined vision by composer Afarin Mansouri, Zuleykha emerges not as a passive figure, but as a seeker of truth—a woman whose journey through passion, heartbreak, and awakening becomes an allegory for the soul’s quest for unity with the divine.

Zuleykha, performed in Farsi with a live instrumental and vocal ensemble. 

The performance blends Persian poetry, operatic expression, and visual design, guiding the audience through Zuleykha’s transformation along Attar’s Seven Valleys of Love.