(35th World Dance Research Congress, Athens/Greece, July 2013)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_79atJAGDeac3d3ZWY0X0RhMjg/edit
The
folk dance scene in Turkey has always represented plural and diverse
perspectives. Historically, in line with some political, social and artistic
changes, it has evolved from an artistic tool of nation-building process to a
performing arts genre itself. Today, it brings out different artistic
approaches; reflecting the influence of other disciplines and staging
techniques of foreign dance companies. It directly adapts itself according to
global influences. Examining such developments, my aim for this paper is to
focus on the present dynamics of the folk dance scene in Turkey. To be able to
do so, I’ll firstly refer to some theoretical approaches and then I’ll try to
summarize the historical development of the folk dance scene in Turkey.
The global culture of “hybridity”
The global culture of “hybridity”
“Globalization” is the name given to the
complex relations which characterize the world in the twenty-first century. As
John Storey states, it refers to the relentless flow of capital, commodities
and communications across increasingy porous territorial boundaires.
Globalization also describes what is called “time-space compression” (Harvey
1990: 240): the way in which the world appears to be shrinking under the impact
of new electronic media, like satellite television and the internet, which
facilitate the extending of social relations across time and space. Time-space
compression brings into close contact images, meanings, ways of life, cultural
practices, which would otherwise have remained separated by time and space.
This can produce a certain homogeneity of cultural experience or resistance in
defence of a previous way of life, or it can bring about a mixing of cultures,
producing forms of “hybridization.”[1]
For
the purpose of this paper, I must refer to Jan Nederveen Pieterse’s (1995: 45)
definition of globalization “as a process of hybridization which gives rise to
global mélange.”[2]
Globalization can’t be reduced to a process of the export of “sameness”, or the
dominance of a global / American culture. Local and global cultures from all
over the world have been mixed. Therefore, what counts as “local” and
therefore “authentic” can not have a fixed content, it’s subject to change and
modification as a result of the domestication of imported cultural goods. (Ang
1996: 155).[3] As Edward Said
(1993: xxix) observes, “all cultures are involved in one another; no one is
single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogenous, extraordinarily differentiated
and unmonolithic.”[4]
On
the other hand, to celebrate hybridity and forget about global power relations
would be to miss even more than those who see globalization as homogenization.
Cultural hybridity is not without its relations of power. As Nederveen Pieterse
(1995: 57) observes, “hybridity raises the question of the terms of mixture,
the conditions of mixing and mélange.” Pieterse argues that the key factor in
globalization as hybridity is that territorial cultures are being gradually
overshadowed by translocal cultures.[5]
Folk dances in Turkey have
been an issue of interest since the rise of Turkish nationalism. After the
construction of Turkish Pepublic in 1923, those dances have been collected by
state officials. They have been refined, standardized, stylized and choreographed
in cultural institutions supported by the ruling party -Halkevleri (Peoples’ Houses). In 1930’s and 1940’s national
celebrations, various dance traditions have been represented on stage and
exposed to each other for the first time. Meanwhile, through nationwide folk
dance festivals and later folk dance competitions, a kind of Turkish ‘national’
dance spectrum has been constructed. Folk dances have been an artistic tool of
nation-building process like in many other countries.[7]
After the end of national
construction process and beginning of multi-party politics in 1946, the ruling
party has changed. Turkey became part of western capitalist bloc in the Cold
War. Meanwhile, many new private folk dance associations began to participate
in international folk dance festivals and competitions. In such a process,
performances have been subject to certain changes in representational forms. Local dances have been represented via
some floor patterns and geometrical shapes like circles, crosses, diagonal
lines, straight lines. Since all such
shapes have been applied to each dance genre, the distinctions between various
dance traditions have been overshadowed. The ‘floor patterning’ led them
towards a certain uniformization. And despite the multicultural diversity they
represent, they all have been called as “Turkish folk dances”.
Since 1960’s,
popularity of folk dances gave way to an increase in the number of folk dance
institutions and formation of a very competitive folk dance ‘market’. The State Folk Dance Ensemble and the first
academic folk dance department in İstanbul have been respectively opened in the
middle of 1970’s and 1980’s. The primary impact of the State Folk Dance
Ensemble on staging techniques was the Moiseyev style of floor-patterning
–including line ups, forming stars, opening and closing circles.[8] Many
amateur folk dance groups of the time reproduced this new representational
style. Especially in 90’s, the audience get used to see stylized local dances
performed in stylized costumes. In entertainment programmes broadcasted in TV
channels, many folk dance groups performed in casual dresses.
As time goes by, Turkey has
been much more integrated to neo-liberal system and global culture industry.
Big scale cultural events, global pop-stars’ tours to Turkey have been
organized; private broadcasting channels have been opened…etc. In such an
atmosphere, the Riverdance interval
performance during the 1994 Eurovision song contest and then the so-named dance
show immediately became an aesthetic model for Turkey too. This show was
distinguished with:
1)
a simple and universal narrative,
2)
a hybrid dance aesthetics -embodying many
different dance techniques and traditions from ballet to folk (Irish) dance,
3)
stylized folk dance performance,
4)
high level of syncronization in dance,
5)
very expensive and spectacular use of
technology.
In
2000’s, following this model, many -folk dance based- professional groups have
been set up; but only two of them could survive in the long run. First of them
is Anadolu Ateşi (Fire of Anatolia)[9], the one
and only professional group; and the second one, Shaman Dans Tiyatrosu (Shaman Dance Theatre) is a semi-professional
group. Such groups gave way to an increase in the number of ‘professional
dancers’. Beside ballet and contemporary dance performers, many folk dancers
had the chance to earn living in these ensembles. And such context gave way to
an increase in artistic competition. Many groups and choreographers sought for
new and creative means ways of representing folk dances on stage.
National TV
channels organized dance competitions in recent years -representing many popular
dance styles from hip hop to tango and salsa. And in 2008, a folk dance
competition has been broadcasted in state television TRT :
Altın Adımlar (Golden Steps).
Supported by Turkish Folk Dance
Federation and introduced as ‘the first folk dance competition in television’,
the programme lasted for thirteen weeks. Most of the participant competitors
were the distinguished folk dance associations in Turkey. They usually
represented local dances of the prevalent ‘Turkish’ dance repertoire. The most interesting
parts of the programme were the presentation of semah (Alawite ritual dance), köçek
(male dressed as female) dance, oriental dance and sema (Mevlevi ritual dance) which are historically excluded from the
prevalent repertoire. These dances are presented outside the competition; but
in a way, they have been ‘recognized’ as part of the folk dance repertoire of
Turkey. For example, a juryman, İstanbul Technical University Department of
Turkish Folk Dances’ lecturer Ahmet Demirbağ defined the oriental dance as “a
dance performed in Turkey since at least a hundred years, thus one of ‘our’
dances.’[10] In the last issues of the
programme, the jury requested more stylized and theatrical choreographies from
the competitors. Therefore, in the context of a more ‘professionalized’ and
‘artistic’ folk dance scene, the criterion of the ‘performing arts’ came into
the scene.
I also want to
refer to a recent phenomenon in the field of social, popular or ‘participatory’
dancing. Especially young migrant generations in the big cities like İstanbul
hybridize many dances genres and initiate new dancing trends. In social
contexts like weddings and festivals, they mix local dancing styles with
acrobatics and hip hop, break dance, disco, Latin and contemporary dance
styles. Such improvised dances’ short video recordings have been shared in
internet (especially in youtube channel)
and social media. I can state three examples of such popular hybrid dances:
1) ‘Şemamê halayı’: a fusion of Kurdish traditional
group dances with hip hop and break dance. It has been popularized by young
Kurdish migrants in urban settlements, especially in political meetings and
popular Kurdish musicians’ concerts.
2) The second
example is the fusion of urban Romani migrants in İstanbul, first appearing in
the video-clip of Romani pop singer Tarık Mengüç’s song Şakşuka (2004). It’s an improvised solo dance, a fusion of hip hop
and gypsy traditional dance to 9/8 rhythm. Once very popular in Romani
settlements in İstanbul, it’s now being performed by folk dance groups and
non-Romani people too.
3) Kolbastı (or ‘Faroz Kesmesi’) is an improvised solo dance, a fusion of traditional Trabzon (Black Sea) dances with contemporary dance styles. This last example has been much more popularized by all kinds of media, therefore being subject of a wide range of discussion. Some choreographers took out its patent and some others tried to make it a global ‘Turkish dance label’. Beside such ownership issues, the dance’s roots –thus, the issue of authenticity- have also been discussed in popular media. This dance has been so popular that, many dance schools launched kolbastı classes as dance fitness programs.
“Hybrid Aesthetics” in Dance Scene: Multiple
Articulations
Those
recent examples reveal multiple articulational possibilities between dance
genres: importing some elements of hip hop and break dances, mixing them
with local dance traditions, thus ‘domesticating’ and ‘localizing’ them. In
this sense, the term ‘hybrid aesthetics’ indicates that various dance genres
have been involved in one another, mixed up; consequently local and traditional
dances have been performed in different manners. In the case of ‘participatory
dance’s exemplified above, the ‘imported’ genres are primarily street dance
genres like hip hop and break dance. On the other hand, when we talk about
‘presentational dance’, Western theatrical dance genres like ballet and modern
dance take precedence. In the last part of this paper, I’ll state examples of
such presentational dances (some groups or specific performances) revealing
various kinds of hybrid dance aesthetics:
2) Boğaziçi Gösteri Sanatları Topluluğu (Bosphorus
Performing Arts Ensemble) Dancers is
known with its choreographies performed to the live music in Kardeş Türküler (Songs of Fraternity)
concerts. Having an anti-nationalist, multicultural perspective and experimental
artistic approach, they usually mix traditional dances with contemporary dance
techniques and hip hop. They also follow and put on the stage some of the
hybridized participatory dances exemplified above.
3) The Zeybreak (2009) performance by Kadir ‘Amigo’ Memiş is a clear fusion of zeybek (an Aegean male solo dance) and break dance. Turkish break dancer living in Germany, Memiş created his own style, staged this dance in all over the world and gave its workshops. He laid emphasis on the similarities of two dance forms such as circling, sharpness, fighting manner, solo dancing and framing the dancing space –‘it’s my place’- before dancing.[11]
5) The
last two examples are Tevhid
(Oneness - 2010)[13],
4 Kapı
40 Makam (Four Doors, Forty
Levels - 2011)[14],
as interesting examples of the fusion of semah
(Alawite ritual dance) with contemporary dance. First piece is Şule Ateş’s
project, choreographed by Bedirhan Dehmen. The second piece is Mesopotamia Dance’s dancer Yeşim
Coşkun’s solo dance and choreography. Ritual dances in both are performed by
contemporary dancers, therefore mixed and improvised dance styles came out.
Both pieces have dealt with identity issues -related to religion- among others;
since its creators –as Alawite artists- were problematizing their ‘roots’ in
the contemporary World.
Such
examples reveal that in today’s global world, it’s really difficult to define a
‘fixed’ dance genre. Due to the communicational and technological facilities –or
‘time-space compression’ stated above-; it has been easier to follow different
kinds of dances in remote parts of the world. Dances have been hybridized and
disciplinary boundaires have been blurred. Hereafter, as Nederveen Pieterse
stated above, a new research topic for dance researchers came out: “in terms of
hybridized dances, what are the terms of mixture, the conditions of mixing and mélange?”
REFERENCES:
Dehmen, Bedirhan. 2005. “Appropriations of Folk Dance at the Intersection
of the National and the Global: Sultans of the Dance” (MA thesis, Boğaziçi
University, Department of Sociology).
Nahachewsky, Andriy.
1995. “Participatory and Presentational Dance as Ethnochoreological
Categories”. Dance Research Journal, 27(1):1-15. New York
Öztürkmen,
Arzu. 2011, “Politics of National Dance in Turkey: A Historical Reappraisal”,
Yearbook of Traditional Music. vol. 33 (2001): 139-144.
Öztürkmen,
Arzu. 2008. “Negotiating
The Folk, The Local and The National in Turkish Dance”, in ICTM
Proceedings, 25th Symposium.
Storey,
John. 2003. “Popular Culture as Global Culture”, Inventing Popular Culture: From Folklore to Globalization, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
……..Public after -performance talk with Kadir “Amigo” Memiş, September 20th, 2010, DancePlatformİstanbul (İstanbul 2010 - European Capital of Culture Activity).
……..
Zeybreak, http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xalxfa_zeybreak_creation#.UcUhv5xQQ3k.
Beşinci
Mevsim, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tia4wTzvy8U.
Tevhid/Oneness/Birlik,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyEZz-zmOPg.
“MKM'den '4 Kapı
40 Makam' projesi”, https://www.facebook.com/notes/mezopotamya-k%C3%BClt%C3%BCr-merkezimersin/mkmden-4-kap%C4%B1-40-makam-projesi/200338829991681
Gizem Aksu’s interview with Yeşim Coşkun, “Özgür Bir Alan, Özgür Bir Sanat Dalı”, http://mimesis-dergi.org/2011/04/ozgur-bir-alan-ozgur-bir-sanat-dali/.
[1] John Storey, “Popular Culture as Global Culture”, Inventing Popular Culture: From Folklore to
Globalization, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2003: 107-108.
[2] ibid, 113.
[3] ibid, 114.
[4] ibid, 117.
[5] ibid, 117-118.
[6] Ethnochoreologist Andriy Nahachewsky defines
four dance categories:
1) participatory dances (as spontaneous, social dances), in which the dancers’ attention addresses
their interaction with each other,
2) presentational dances
which are pre-prepared and rehearsed for an external
human audience,
3) sacred dances in which
the message is intended for supernatural beings,
4) reflexive dances in which
each dancer focuses on his/her own kinaesthetic experience.
(See Andriy Nahachewsky, 1995.
“Participatory and Presentational Dance as Ethnochoreological Categories”. Dance Research Journal, 27(1):1-15. New York
[7] For a more detailed account, see: Arzu Öztürkmen, “Folk Dance and
Nationalism in Turkey”, in ICTM Proceedings, 17th Symposium,
1992 and Arzu
Öztürkmen , “Politics of National Dance in Turkey: A Historical Reappraisal”,
Yearbook of Traditional Music. vol. 33 (2001): 139-144.
[8] Arzu Öztürkmen, “Negotiating The Folk, The Local and The National in
Turkish Dance”, in ICTM Proceedings, 25th Symposium,
2008.
[9] Its initial
name is Sultans of the Dance. Bedirhan
Dehmen, in its MA thesis on this group states: “…in the search for a “brand that has the power of competition at the
global level,” producers of the show had to invest in a globally valid
form/model/style, which was mainly initiated by Irish-origin groups like Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, yet sources of
which can also be found in the creations of State Folk Dance Ensembles as well
as in the histories of folk dance in various nation-state formations.” (Bedirhan Dehmen, “Appropriations of Folk Dance at the Intersection of the National and the
Global: Sultans of the Dance” (MA thesis, Boğaziçi University, Department of
Sociology, 2005), 110.)
[10] That’s an important statement since oriental dance has usually
been despised as an “Arabic dance”, having no Turkish origins, so not “our”
dance by state folk dance authorities among others.
[11] Notes from the public after -performance talk with
Kadir “Amigo” Memiş, September 20th, 2010, DancePlatformİstanbul (a İstanbul
2010-European Capital of Culture Activity).
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xalxfa_zeybreak_creation#.UcUhv5xQQ3k.
[12] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tia4wTzvy8U.
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyEZz-zmOPg.
[14]https://www.facebook.com/notes/mezopotamya-k%C3%BClt%C3%BCr-merkezimersin/mkmden-4-kap%C4%B1-40-makam-projesi/200338829991681,
and an interview in Turkish with Yeşim Coşkun:
http://mimesis-dergi.org/2011/04/ozgur-bir-alan-ozgur-bir-sanat-dali/.
