New Approaches to Dance; Contemporary Dance Choreography with Zeybek Dance Movement Semiotics

Abstract

This study aims to produce contemporary dance choreography with movement semiotics of Zeybek dance in Aydın region. The choreography production process is structured under the guidance of different improvisation studies based on the semiotics of movement Zeybek dance in Aydın region. In this context, the traditional Zeybek dance is reinterpreted and opened to discussion by associating with the concepts of time, space and medium with the current movement approach. The eight workshops planned during the research were conducted with thirty-five students studying at the Turkish Folk Dance Department of Ege University State Conservatory of Turkish Music. Movement studies were carried out in the studios of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Istanbul State Conservatory Contemporary Dance Department with a group of four people. Finally, the work was structured as a solo work and was completed with the improvisation sound design of a female dancer and a musician. With the folkloric features of Zeybek, Anatolian legends and myths were taken as a reference and a solo contemporary dance work was produced in a ritual form within a range of twenty to twenty five minutes.