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The
Creation of Sultans of the Dance
"Why
shouldn't we tell the story", we said, which was the
start of everything. Anatolia, for millennia home to humanity,
had much to tell. Some of it had been told before, in
folksong, folkdance, traditional architecture and more… She
had told us much, in fact… But Mustafa Erdoðan decided that
it was time to tell the world what Anatolia had experienced,
what she had said to us… And we knew in what language
Anatolia would speak, the language of the body… The language
of humanity even before we gained the power of speech…
First
we placed advertisements in the newspapers. Of the 750 people
who applied, 90 talented young dancers were selected. These 90
ballets and folk dancers began work immediately. They worked
night and day under the supervision of dieticians, modern and
oriental dance instructors, folkdance experts and music
instructors who know this land's music better than anyone
else. Six days a week, rehearsing ten hours a day… The
synthesis of 3000 folk dance figures, music from 25 different
folk compositions arranged… All to give Anatolia a voice…
Rehearsals
lasted over one full year. And then it was time for everyone
to savor what they had achieved. Sultans of the Dance tells in
music and movement the story Anatolia has for so long
whispered to us in silence. All we did was to speak her tongue
and bring her legends to life.
Dances:
Nemrut: Mountain of the Gods, The Fire Ceremony, Rivers of
Fire, The Fire Dance, The Tree of Life.
Motifs:
Inspired by the Turks of Central Asia, the Zoroastrian and
Yezidi Kurds, Alevi Moslem dances and the folkdances of
Southeastern Turkey.
In
creating her theory of the dance, Isadora Duncan looked to the
Aegean. At the time the soul of this American woman of Irish
descent was fired by visions of the Mediterranean, the most
glorious era of the Classic Ballet was drawing to a close. At
the dawn of the last century in her body she felt the
stirrings of revolt and it was as if she found the historic
expression of that revolt in the very same ancient and exotic
lands where we live today. Hers was an emerald blue visionary
journey. In her quest to discover the dances of the peoples of
the Mediterranean, she looked to the god of freedom, bounty,
passion, wine and love… Dionysius. This woman, who said,
"Dance is a surrender to Dionysius," set off on a
pilgrimage through the islands of the Aegean and, lured by the
mystic call of the dance, spent her time studying the rich
legacy of our antique friezes and reliefs. From carvings of
Dionysian harvest festivals, she sought inspiration for
figures and choreographies. She discovered that the first
codes, the first steps and the first rituals of physical
freedom were created in a colorful and culturally diverse
region of which Anatolia was the center. While hers was a
visionary journey, she was without a doubt on the trail of a
fertile spring of inspiration. And perhaps, those who
succeeded her sought a little bit of Isadora in their dances.
Now,
like a thousand rivers flowing back to their source… As if
we are following in the footsteps of Isadora, here in the land
where the first flame was lit, the first wheel spun and the
god-king of Nemrut Mountain, Antiochus, looked out over the
plains of Mesopotamia, across the foothills of Anatolia and
the rugged coast of the Mediterranean, a spirit calls upon us
to create a dance of passion, ambition, vitality and peace.
The course we chart in our journey is the same, but now the
river flows back to its source. In the steps of folk dances,
we find the figures of the maenads and satires who graced the
Dionysian festival. We approach a 2,000 year-old Aegean relief
depicting a dance step with a warmth and openness that are
almost universal, as, through this relic, we seek to better
see and understand our own land. We seek a style and are in
pursuit of a powerful emotion. Moving from style to style,
what we are looking for is our own style. At first we are
buffeted, but then find our destination. Because what we truly
seek is a Turkish dance.
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