Bossy boots

I was approached a few weeks ago by one of the teachers at the Conservatoire and he informed me of a Contemporary dance group that wanted me to teach for them. The group seems similar to a society within the university, although the dancers had to audition to gain a place. To begin with there were two groups, Modern Dance and Dance Theatre. This year the two have been merged to create one larger group.
Before teaching all I was told is that some were dancers and some did not have much experience of dance, but they had all been chosen at audition. I created a class of about an hour and a half in length and then thought up a few choreographic tasks to maybe use towards the end of class.
The group was rather big, there must of been around 35/40 students. The studio space was great though and large enough for everyone.
I think I may have set the class at slightly too high a standard, however everyone put it the effort and overall the first class was rather successful. I left a few exercises out as I felt they were too difficult and I also ran out of time so did not work on any choreographic tasks. Last weeks class I continued working on the phrases and exercises from the first class as I wanted the students to get them into their bodies a bit more, enabling them to perform the phrases without me. I also added a couple new phrases in, including a rather difficult traveling phrase which they all seemed to enjoy.
Although I do speak Turkish pretty fluently, teaching dance is completely different. I guess I never realised until now how different dance language is to everyday language that we use! I speak enough Turkish to easily get by day to day but trying to explain that the movement is 'initiated from the hip joint', for example, is another story. This means that teaching contemporary dance here has been more of a challenge than usual, but still just as enjoyable.
Last week, the lovely students had bought me a gift to say thank you (even though I don't feel I have done that much for them yet!). It was a traditional Turkish coffee set which I love. I'm having lots of fun teaching these students and look forward to working with them more during my last couple of weeks here in Izmir.

Traditional Turkish coffee set as a gift from my dance students.

Happy Teachers Day!!

Today all over Turkey Teachers Day is celebrated. Ataturk believed that the 'new generation will be created by teachers', and therefore the 24th November is annually celebrated as Teachers Day. Although the teachers do not get a day off like you might assume, the students show their appreciation is other ways. At The State Turkish Music and Dance Conservatoire, as the teachers entered the classroom all the students clapped and cheered for them.  Then at lunchtime everyone gathered in the theatre. As the teachers walked in everyone created an archway for them to walk through holding sparklers. A short film was played that a few of the students had made, and it included old video footage of the teachers performing in various dance companies along with some photos. Then there was music, cake, drinks and a bit of a dance! 

I think it was such a lovely occasion and I wish it was also celebrated in England. Anyway, just a quick post today but I would like to thank all the teachers I have had over the years, especially the amazing teachers at Roehampton who taught me so much, I am very grateful! X

School Trip, THOF & Film Festival..

So I went on my first compulsory school trip since high school I think!! It was great, as it was a chance for all the students and teachers (who also brought their families along), to get together outside of university hours and in a different environment. We went to watch Izmir Devlet Opera ve Balesi (Izmir State Opera and Ballet) perform Don Kişot. I haven't been to watch a ballet since I was introduced to contemporary dance about 8 years ago. No offense intended to ballet/ballet lovers but I would always much rather spend my time and money watching contemporary dance and choreographers. It was good to watch and obviously the dancers physique and technical ability can only be admired, but 30 minutes in to the two and a half hour show, I felt like I had seen it all. From then onwards it was just like watching the movements on repeat. It made me realise just how much I love contemporary dance and how much I have missed it whilst being in Turkey! However, what was great is that the tickets were really cheap which made it accessible to everyone. It cost 10 Turkish Lira which is about £3.50, and this was standard price. Maybe if it was this cheap back in the UK, I would go more often, but for now I think I will stick to what I know best! 

Izmir Devlet Opera ve Balesi Performing Don Kisot.

On Sunday night I was invited to the Turkish Folk Dance Federation's 10 year anniversary celebrations. It consisted of a performance, among many others things such as speeches and an awards ceremony. The performance saw several different folk dance companies based in Izmir, present short pieces. One of the pieces was performed by some of The State Turkish Music and Dance Consertavoire's students. The standard was extremely high and a particular highlight for me was one of the groups performing Kafkas dance. Kafkas is very technical and requires an enourmous amount of strength. Kafkas dancers also really over-perform the movement (if thats even possible), and the performance element alongside the highly technical movement makes for a very exciting piece of dance. For example, the dancers perform long series of continuous turns and also pike jumps landing straight onto their knees. I find it fascinating how they can train at such a high standard and perform pretty dangerous movements, yet still try to avoid injury. I am definitely going to look into Kafkas a little more and hopefully learn some before I leave Turkey. Here is a little example of the movement material.. 

From 16th-20th November, Izmir hosted the International Short Film Festival. Films were shown each day from 11am until 2am the next morning. Although there were no dance films, it was a really exciting event and a great opportunity to watch films from new, up and coming directors as well as more established ones. The films all ranged from around 3 minutes to 35 minutes. My personal favourite was Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing. I am familiar with Tan's work and illustrations and have read The Lost Thing in the past, so it was great to see the animated film version. The narrator was comedian Tim Minchin which seemed rather fitting. The Lost Thing has such a simple yet lovely story to it and is definitely worth a watch! The trailer is here..

Sari Zeybek

Although in my previous post, Bayram Cancelled, I spoke about the dance performance not going ahead, it actually did end up being performed on 10th November, the anniversary of Ataturk's death. Ataturk was the first President of Turkey and is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. For that reason he is completely idolised and worshiped all over Turkey. It is hard to go anywhere without seeing his photo, statue or any other form of memorabilia.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

The show mainly consisted of third and fourth year students with a couple of first and second year dancers. It was so good to go along and be a part of it although I was not dancing, and Roarke was also asked to film the performance for the University. A coach picked everyone up from the University and took us to the theatre in which the performance was due to take place. Then food was ordered for everyone and we all sat and ate together. This made it really feel like a dance company on tour together and there was a great atmosphere and sense of excitement all day!

Although I had seen rehearsals and a full run through of the 50 minute dance show, it was truely amazing to watch it in full traditional costume. I was not really expecting to be blown away as I felt I knew the show quite well by the time it came to the actual performance. But the costumes were so elaborate and the combination of the costumes and lights really brought the dance alive! Not to mention the atmosphere in the audience. Abdurrahim, the dance teacher I spoke about in the Muğla blog post, danced as Ataturk and after a long time in make-up the resemblance was uncanny. Every time he came on stage the audience would cheer and applaud. After he danced he got  standing ovation and at the end, he had many people coming up and asking for photos. 


Here is a tiny snippet of the show until the main film has been captured and edited. Unfortunately it is a little wobbly as the tripod was being used for the main camera. At least you can still get an idea..

Zeybek Videos

Here are two of the dances I have learnt in the year 1 Zeybek classes. The first is called Somali and the second is Hazelii. These two dances are fairly contrasting which is unusual for Zeybek as many of the dances have many similarities in the movement material, but also the movement quality and performance. We usually spend about three quarters of the lesson learning a dance and then we practice each dance once at the beginning of every class. We are then expected to rehearse and practice the dances in our own time to perfect them all. As this was filmed during class you can hear the teachers speaking over the music giving corrections.

Ethnography Museum

Dance Costumes in the Ethnography Museum.

Last week whilst my family were visiting, Ocal kindly took us to visit Ege University's Ethnography Museum. I believe it is a fairly new part of the University. Prof. Dr. Cengiz Aydin, Chairman of the Ege University Turkish State Conservatoire, Folk Dance Department, pioneered the research project named, 'The Museum and Archive of Folkloric Musical Instruments, Folk Dance, Traditional Attire and Folk Songs in the Balkans and Anatolia Project', which commenced in 2004. The project aimed to collect samples of folk costumes and musical instruments from past to present.

In the main room of the Museum Traditional Anatolian folk costumes are displayed, as well as weapons and jewellery that were used for dance. All of the costumes have so much intricate detail and it is clear that a huge amount of time and work has gone into each and every one of them. Although in modern day a lot of the costumes are remade for folk dance, they are not nearly as detailed. For example, with the Zeybek costumes, (all male costumes pictured above), in the past the black design on the blue fabric was all hand embroidered. However nowadays the black design is often just cut from one piece of fabric to save time and money. Although many modern replicas are extremely similar to the traditional costumes, its little details like this that make the past outfits even more fascinating to look at.

Folk Dance Costume Shop.

Boots, Headdresses etc.

A few days before visiting the Ethnographic Museum, I accidentally stumbled across a little Folk Dance Costume shop in Izmir. Although it was not open, when I explained to the owner my reason for being in Izmir, he was more than happy to show me around. The shop had all the different folk dance costumes, as well as accessories and shoes. The shoes were all amazing and my sister actually bought a pair of the boots just for everyday wear. They cost 100 Turkish Lira which is about £35. But seeing as the boots are real leather and hand-made, I think they are very reasonable. Obviously all these costumes were the modern day replicas but they were of a fantastic quality.

I am currently writing during my coach journey down south. I am visiting my family in Fethiye as tomorrow is another Bayram. It is a religious festival named Kurban Bayram, or Sacrifice Bayram. Tomorrow many sheep all over Turkey will be slaughtered as a sacrifice to God. Then everyone gets together and has a massive feast eating the meat from the sacrificed animals. Hopefully there will be some dancing too!

Muğla

Every Monday morning after an intense Ballet class, I take Muğla lessons with the third year dance students. Muğla is a southern province of Turkey, and the area I am most familiar with as I have a lot of family there. One of the teachers for Muğla is the oldest teacher at the Conservatoire. I wouldn't like to guess his age but it is clear he is much older than the others. However, he has so much energy and is such a fantastic dancer. He has such high stamina and can out dance all the young students. Also what I like about his classes is often at the end, he will show us videos of some of his own research that he has collected over the years, of dancers and musicians out in the villages. It's great to experience the dance and music first hand and find out where it originates from, and how it is traditionally performed. In this class we have learnt Fethiye and Ölüdeniz dances, which is the town in which I lived for a year and a half when I was seven, and I still visit family there every year. I really enjoyed learning these dances as I felt like I already had some kind of connection with them. 

Ruins in the mountain, Fethiye.

Fethiye harbour by night.

Ölüdeniz beach, Fethiye.

In yesterdays lesson one of the third year male students had received his notice for military service. In Turkey, military service is compulsory for all male citizens, with a few exceptions. The duration has recently been lowered from 18 months to 14 months. Usually if you are in undergraduate study you can postpone it until you have finished, unless you are 29 years or older. Unfortunately this student is 29, and although he tried to appeal, he has been told he must complete his military service now. I could tell he was so distraught at having this news and you can't blame him. He is in the middle of his third year of studying a four year dance course and he now has to leave. Even if he was to return he wouldn't be able to graduate for another four years, with 14 months military service and then third and fourth year to complete. I'm not even sure if this is an option for him. I feel so bad for him and as a dancer I can't imagine anything worse than being told you have to leave your course and you won't be able to dance for 14 months. And there isn't even anything that can be done to prevent it. I'm sure anyone with that much passion for their art form would feel the same!

Photography.

I took and developed my first film from the photography lessons that I have joined at the Dance School. A few of the photographs ended up rather blurry but everyone has to start somewhere! And it was my first time using a SLR camera, which I have somehow already managed to break. Here are a few of my photo's..

Bayram cancelled.

Turkish Flag hung outside my flat in preparation for Bayram.

Every year on the 29th October, Cumhuriyet Bayramı is celebrated. It is the Republic Day festival in Turkey. The Folk Dance Department of the State Turkish Music and Dance Conservatoire were due to perform in Kuşadası, a local seaside town. The performance was part of the many celebrations and folk dance events that take place each year on the 29th, all over Turkey. There are several different Bayram's throughout the year, Bayram is the word for a nationally celebrated festival or holiday. 
The dance performance mainly consisted of third and fourth year dance students, and I was invited along to watch the show. The night before the celebrations were due to begin, the Turkish Government announced that all Republic Day celebrations were to be cancelled due to last weeks terrible news of the Earthquake that hit the Eastern Turkey Province, Van. 
Although it is a shame to have to cancel celebrations and performances that much hard work has been put into for several months, I think that the Government chose to do the right thing. Why should everyone be celebrating and having a good time when something so terribly tragic is happening in the very same country? I just hope that all of the money that would have been put into the festivities, now goes to the Earthquake victims. 
The show was supposed to be about an hour long with several different sections representing different events, for example, the rebirth of Ataturk, the women sending their loved ones off to war and the men fighting at war. Even though the performance was cancelled, I still managed to get a little bit of footage during a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago..

Rehearsal footage of the performance to celebrate Bayram.

Modern Dans Toplulğu

Dancers: Nazil Dirin, Zeynep Körpeoğlu, Özlem Özdemir, Özlem Özükan, Ilke Sayiner, Anna Akabali. 'NOCTURNE', Choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Photo: Hurriyet Website.

On Tuesday, after having my worst dance class since being in Turkey (Spoon dancing obviously), where nothing would go in and I seemed to keep getting the movement wrong when we were asked to perform alone, I went to the Theatre. My Dad's Aunt had told me she had got us tickets for the Opera. I didn't really know what to expect and wasn't sure if I could handle two classical concerts in two weeks! However to my surprise, it was a Contemporary dance performance. Performing was the Ankara Devlet Opera Ve Balesi, Modern Dans Toplulğu, which is the Ankara State Opera and Ballet's Modern Dance Group. The performance consisted of a triple bill with two different choreographers. The First piece NOCTURNE was choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, as was the third piece, IN<FUSION>IN. The second piece ÇEKIM, was choreographed by Deniz Alp.

It was the pre-set of the first piece NOCTURNE that made it immediately evident that this was a contemporary dance work, and suddenly I was on the edge of my seat. This piece consisted of an ensemble of six female dancers. They were all very clearly trained in classical ballet as well as contemporary and had extremeley strong technique. NOCTURNE sees the female dancers move through the space with fast paced floor work and elegant jumps and leaps. The dancers all began dressed in variations of long coats, dresses and heels, however as the piece continued items were removed leaving the performers in what looked like their undergarments. One of the dancers was left in a large white vest and white Y-fronts. She performed a solo to the sound of a child whispering. The combination of the costume (which looked rather like a nappy), the child's voice and the soft, quiet quality of the solo made the dancer seem child-like and vulnerable, which as an audience member was extremely endearing to watch. I really enjoyed this piece and it was by far my favourite of the evening.

Dancers: Deniz Alp, Özlem Özükan. 'ÇEKIM', Choreographed by Deniz Alp. Photo: Artilya Website.

Dancers: Emrah Keskin, Kerem Inanç. 'ÇEKIM', Choreographed by Deniz Alp. Photo: Artilya Website.

The second piece, ÇEKIM, was a quartet of two male and two female dancers. I felt there was a very obvious use of the four dancers, with two interchanging male/female duets. The four dancers whom were lit by a central spotlight, performed continuous lifts and partner work, every so often switching partners. None of the lifts were particularly innovative, although every so often a rather unique and interesting lift would occur. Unfortunately there was not enough of these moments and they were over within seconds. If you blinked you would have missed it! The dancers all were incredibly technical and if nothing else they were beautiful enough to watch alone (without paying attention to the choreography). However, as choreography is very important to me, I could not ignore it. Although I hate to say it, ÇEKIM reminded me slightly of an A-level exam piece, I know this, for any choreographer, is a really big insult but it was my honest opinion. 


When I read in the programme that IN<FUSION>IN was also choreographed by Ochoa, I was excited and had very high hopes for the closing piece of this performance. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. The dance work had the full cast of twenty dancers performing and they began all in unison. The dancers were evenly spaced across the stage in 4 lines of 5 dancers. They began performing a series of gestural movements with the use of body percussion. For example, a slap of the leg, followed by a whistle then two stamps with the feet. I felt that I have seen this type of thing many a time before and there was nothing fresh or new to this dance work. I found myself daydreaming on several occasions which was a great shame as it is the first live contemporary dance work I have seen for over two months.

Although it may sound like I had a negative experience of this contemporary dance performance, this was not the case! It was so great to see some contemporary dance here in Izmir, especially as often when I tell people that I am trained in contemporary, they either have never heard of it or assume that it is Salsa or Hip Hop. When it comes to trying to explain what I do back in the UK, it proves rather difficult, especially as Turkish is my second language. I was so pleased to see that in fact there is contemporary dance in Turkey although on a much smaller scale than England. From reading up on the company after the show I found that over the years they have commissioned several well known English contemporary choreographers, such as, Micheal Popper, Richard Alston and Lloyd Newson to name a few. Overall, it was a great experience to watch these works amongst an audience of many contemporary dance virgins. And it was a clear reminder of where I began and why I am here today.

Zeybek Class Photos.

Dancers: Guzin, Ceyda, Esra, Cala, Meral, Baran, Ilkyaz, Cenk

Ocal Teaching  Zeybek to Year 1

Dancers: Miktat, Cenk, Ceyda, Abdullah, Murat, Orcan, Ozge, Baran, Mustafa

Dancers: Inci, Abdullah, Ugur, Gizem

Mehmet Öcal Özbilgin

Since last time..

Izmir.

Fresh Orange Juice on the Ferry.

Izmir Symphony Orchestra Tickets.

Its been a while since my last post and I have been pretty busy. I got invited to the opening concert of The Izmir Symphony Orchestra at The Ahmed Adnan Saygun Arts Centre. It was very interesting as I have never actually been to a classical music concert so it was a completely new experience for me. The guest soloist was a pianist named Idil Biret, I hadn't heard of her but it was very clear that she was extremely well known in the classical music world as she had a standing ovation for each of her three solos and was signing cd's after the performance.

In Izmir if you don't fancy getting the metro or the bus, there is always the ferry. It's such a nice journey across the water with amazing views of the city. They also bring round freshly squeezed orange juice and lemonade during the 20 minute crossing which makes it even more enjoyable!

On Tuesday night we were told about a wedding ceremony that was happening locally. Knowing what Turkish weddings are like, I went along not knowing the bride or groom. It was just in the middle of the street and it felt like the whole local community had come along to celebrate. There was a live band and almost everyone was up dancing. From little children as young as three or four, to elderly people, who had masses of energy considering their age. Each song that was played seemed to have a specific dance attached, which the whole of the wedding party knew. There was such a great atmosphere and although I left at around 11.30pm due to a 6am start, it was very clear that the partying and dancing would be continued into the early hours of the morning!

     The Wedding Guests Dancing. 

On Thursday Roarke came into the dance school with me and did a little bit of filming during the Zeybek lesson (I will post the video soon). I thought it would be a good idea to have some of the dances filmed for research as well as to post on here. After the class we met with an ex student, Ramazan, who Ocal introduced us to. He was so helpful and offered for me to teach contemporary classes to some children at the schools he works at. He also took me to visit a school for the deaf, where he is the folk dance teacher. I found it extremely fascinating watching the group of 16 girls perform their newly finished dance piece, and I was amazed by how in time and on top of the counts they were, even though they could not hear the music. I wasn't expecting them to be inadequate at all, but I was in awe of their performance. From choreographing group pieces in the past I am aware of how difficult it can be to get the timing, musicality and precision of movements in complete unison, even when working with some of the most amazing dancers, (I can even think of examples of professional dance companies who can't achieve this, but they shall remain nameless). But this group of young girls had every last movement down to a T. I was asked then and there if I would like to teach them some contemporary dance, but as the trip to the school was a last minute decision and I was caught off guard, I had nothing prepared. However I have been invited back so am looking forward to the opportunity of working with this group of dancers.

it's circle time..

Dancers: Steph Potter, Lauren Wallace, Kayleigh Prescott, Martin Shead, 

        Saskia Bell, Sam Reynolds, Matt Howell. 'White Wash 2011' 

Choreography: Ceyda Tanc. Photo: Roarke Pearce.

I have recently become very aware of the structure of Turkish folk dance classes, and the differences between folk dance class and contemporary technique class. The majority of the folk dance classes follow the same structure; A basic phrase/piece of rep is taught, with the female and male versions. Then several adaptations of the original phrase are taught. An example of this is in Zeybek, we learnt the basic phrase, then the phrase was repeated with several variations:

1. Basic phrase

2. Phrase with arm movements added

3. Traveling backwards

4. Traveling sideways

5. Phrase with turns added

6. Phrase jumping

7. Jumping with a squat added

8. Phrase with leg gestures

9. Hopping

10. Clapping gesture added

11. Final finishing version of the original phrase.

Not all of the dances are this long, and some have as little as only four or five versions. The class differs to a contemporary technique class, in that the dances are taught more as repertoire and you tend to only learn one dance per class, therefore the whole class is just building on that one initial phrase. Then the next class will be a quick recap, and on to a whole new dance. In contemporary technique however, you are generally taught several exercises and then sometimes one longer sequence towards the end of class. These exercises and sequences are often developed week by week rather than all within the same lesson.

In my experience so far, all but two of the Turkish folk dance classes I have participated in are performed in a large circle, moving anti-clockwise. I'm still unsure as to whether the majority of the dance styles are performed in a circle or whether it's for spacing, as a large percentage of the movement travels forwards and obviously there is limited space in a studio. So practicing with everyone in one large circle allows for endless amounts of traveling space.  

I think it's great that even though we are learning very traditional dance styles, and movement that has clear male and female roles, everybody always has to learn both the parts together and then either perform the movement as a female or male, as a whole group. There is very rarely a time when only the girls perform the female role, and the boys perform the male role. This makes it evident that although these dances were made in the past and are still taught in a traditional way, there are subtle changes that contribute to breaking the boundaries of this traditional movement. 

Kaşık Oyunları.

           Wooden spoons used for spoon dancing.

        A male dance group performing a spoon dance (in traditional costume).

This week I have taken on two extra dance classes, Zeybek technique and Kaşık Oyunları (spoon dancing). Having a technique class where a prop is vital, is a completely new experience for me as this isn't done in contemporary dance. Of course I have performed in works where props are used as part of the choreography, but with spoon dancing, the spoons are a necessity (hence the name).

We first learnt how to hold and play the spoons with one set in each hand. Then we were taught a tune to play. This was later added to a hopping leg sequence, and finally the arm movements were added which was is opposition. Each of the elements alone were relatively simple, although playing the spoons proved quite difficult as my hands weren't big enough to hold the spoons correctly. However, when all of the elements were put together it became pretty complicated! There was so much to think about and everything was in opposition, this made it extremely hard for me to pick up. Also, it was the last class in a very long day of dance which probably added to the difficulty.

The class was very enjoyable although it isn't my favourite of the Turkish dances to watch. I think that other styles, such as Zeybek, have a lot more to offer in the sense of enriching the contemporary movement vocabulary, so this is where my main interest lies. However, I will continue attending these classes as I think there is much more that can be learnt and taken from spoon dancing.

Catherine Foley Lecture on Irish Dance.

Today Catherine Foley was visiting The State Turkish Music Conservatory Department of Folk Dance and she gave a lecture on Traditional Dance in Ireland. I found the lecture really interesting and very informative. It was nice to completely understand what was going on for the whole two hours. Although I can speak and understand more than enough Turkish to get by, sometimes when spoken quickly things get lost in translation.

First week dancing in Turkey..

                                           Pink Sky, Izmir, Turkey.          
      

                                           Our Swimming Pool, Izmir, Turkey.


I have just finished my first week at the dance school in Turkey. I have taken part in several classes this week including, Ballet, Zeybek, Muğla, Denizli, Afyon and photography/film. The school day runs from 8.30am-5.00pm, however I am living an hour away so I have to wake up at 6am (4am UK time). I had the option to live closer but the swimming pool (Photo above) helped make my decision. The Students have a mix of dance, music and theory lessons, however I am mainly participating in the dance classes which means I am in class with first, second and third years to allow me to do as much as possible. 


My first class was ballet which was quite a nice way in, as although it is certainly not my forte, it is the dance genre I can relate to most at The Turkish Folk Dance School. Although it was evident that the majority of the first years had never done ballet before, this didn't stop the teacher from going straight in at full pace. It was rather intense but still pretty enjoyable as it felt good to be dancing again after a long four months off!


It took a little time to get into the swing of being back in full time training. And starting to learn a completely new way of moving was more hard work than I may have initially anticipated. After a few of the classes I felt frustrated with my performance, but I have always been told I'm too hard on myself and I didn't feel like this for too long. By Wednesday afternoon my thighs were aching like never before and I struggled to walk (especially on stairs). I thought a nighttime swim would help ease the pain but 12 lengths later it was ten times worse! The folk dance class I enjoyed the most was Afyon, I'm not sure why, maybe because it was slightly easier than the others, so I didn't feel completely out of my comfort zone.


I took part in a photography/ film workshop for dancers. The class was really interesting and it was good to learn camera techniques and how to actually work a camera properly. This class was just theory but next week we will all be going out to take photos together. I'm surprised more dance courses don't offer this as it seems like a good subject area to support the arts based nature of contemporary dance. It also helps when it comes to carrying out research for assignments such as dissertations. 

First Post..

Dancer: Ceyda Tanc in 'Reminiscences', choreographed by Jia-Yu Corti. 

Photo: Simon Ellis.

      Dancer: Kimberley Collins in 'White Wash (2011)', Choreographed by Ceyda Tanc. 

Photo: Robyn Cabaret. 

So here goes my first post...  My name is Ceyda Tanc. I recently graduated with a BA (Hons) in Dance Studies from Roehampton University. I am trained in contemporary dance, particularly Limón, Graham, Cunningham and Release techniques. I had an amazing time at Roehampton and feel like I learnt so so much. During my third year I was lucky enough to gain places on the Performance & Repertory course as well as Third Row Dance Company. This gave me the opportunity to perform in works by many professional choreographers such as, Jack Webb, Rachel Birch-Lawson, Renaud Wiser, Joe Moran and Jia-Yu Corti (Photo above). 

Also during my third year I Choreographed White Wash (2011) as part of my undergraduate dissertation. I wanted to carry out an investigation into creating a contemporary dance piece with influence of traditional Turkish folk dance, in particular, Zeybek Dance. I have always trained in contemporary dance and being half Turkish, I was keen to bring my contemporary dance training and Turkish heritage together, and challenge myself to approach traditional folk dance movement material as a contemporary choreographer. Although I did not set out with any future intentions, I soon found that this process was extremely interesting to me and I wanted to continue exploring the way in which Zeybek dance can enrich contemporary movement vocabulary. 

So that brings me me to where I am now... In Turkey to be precise! Luckily during my dissertation Mehmet Öcal Özbilgin was visiting Roehampton University from Turkey. Öcal is a professor in the Turkish Folk Dance Department at the State Turkish Music Conservatory, University of Ege, in Izmir, and he specialises in Zeybek dance. Not only did Öcal give me guidance for my dissertation, he also, knowing that I was keen to continue my research, invited my to spend a term studying traditional Turkish folk dance at the Conservatoire.