Turkish folk dances
Turkish folk dances are traditional dances that are mostly common in Turkey and in the Turkish settlement areas. For the Turkish minorities in Europe , America and Australia these dances strengthen their cultural cohesion.
The Turkish folk dances are used on important occasions such as B. Weddings, engagements, farewells of the recruits, religious, national, municipal, regional holidays, parades are listed in the appropriate places. Most folk dances are no longer performed in their natural setting, but have become an art form in their own right through competitions and folklore festivals.
Especially at weddings, guests who have mastered the traditional dances are often invited to lead the group of dancers. Some of these pre-dancers improvise new figures in order to prove their talent at the performances. In this way the people and especially the young people are regularly instructed in the traditional art of folk dance.
There are dances that imitate events from nature or everyday life, but also social events or human issues such as love. An example of the versatility of the dances is the “Urfa Kımıl Dance” from Şanlıurfa , which depicts the problems of the population after pests have infested the fields.
Depending on the theme of the dances, the dancers dress in the appropriate traditional costumes. The Turkish folk dances are necessarily accompanied by at least one instrument, such as B. a Baglama or Kemençe . In some regions, women especially dance to folk tunes that are sung.
The names of the dances mostly refer to the creator of the dances, to the region from which they come, to natural phenomena or other topics that they have as their content. The relationships between people and nature, rain, fog or running water, the flora, the representation of numbers, people and animals, social events, quarrels and war, love and passion, courting girls and boys, saying goodbye to the recruits at home , agricultural events such as harvest or crop failure, description of occupations such as B. that of the shepherd or the housewives in the village, bread baking, cow milking, laundry etc. and the manufacture of a product, such as. B. rope turning are popular subjects for folk dances.
Dances of the Regions
- Bar : Northeast Anatolia
- Çiftetelli, related to the Greek tsifteteli , belly dance from Ottoman times in the western Turkish cities
- Halay : Eastern Mediterranean Region , Eastern , Southeastern and Central Anatolia
- Hora : western Marmara region
- Horon : eastern Black Sea region
- Kaşık Karşılama , western Black Sea region, western central and southern Anatolia
- Kolbastı , fast, energetic dance from the eastern Black Sea region around Trabzon
- Lezginka ( Kafkas Oyunları ): Ardahan Province , Iğdır and Kars
- Zeybek , Aegean Region and Western Mediterranean Region