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..