By the term “classical”, I herein mean dance done by an individual or a group for others to watch, rather than personally to participate.  There is a separate, but sometimes overlapping, connotation of the term that signifies an art that has a tradition and is taught and maintained through the generations, whether by schools, dance masters, or by any student-teacher relationship.  The applicability of this latter usage of the term “classical” to Persian dance is controversial.  There is a third connotation of the term “classical, which signifies works of art created by known artists, and preserved via a notation or rendering (for example, European or Ottoman “classical” music); this connotation does not apply to Persian dancing.