On the occasion of the International Dance Day, students of Arkın Creative Arts and Design University (ARUCAD) Music and Performing Arts Faculty students gave a performance of the voice and movement work titled “Nowhere” under the direction of Dr. Handan Ergiydiren Doğanon, Assistant Head of the Modern Dance Department. The performance of “Nowhere” is the result creative improvisations inspired by 3 short films by Doğuş Özokutan and Vasfi Çiftçioğlu. The individual solo works of the students were brought together as a group performance under the supervision of Dr. Doğan.
The work “Nowhere” uses concepts such as time, space, memory, and moment to express the shocking effects on the individual of events such as earthquakes and fires using words, sounds, melody and movement. Commenting on the performance created for World Dance Day, Dr. Doğan said, “World Dance Day invites people all over the world to dance, to feel the rhythm and to discover the miracle of our body. Today, we all know that the harmony of body and spirit, matter and meaning makes people peaceful. Engaging in dance and movement are the most enjoyable ways to harmonize with our body and love ourselves. Man has been creating music since the first days of his existence and expressing his emotions by dancing. Everyone has their own unique movement attitude, swing and dance.
Everyone’s unique dance is correct and beautiful because everybody is beautiful. In the contemporary world, the art of dance has gone far beyond being rhythmic movements and has become an individual and social expression, a subjective form of expression that interprets events with movement. With this understanding, the performance we gave as the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts was a presentation consisting of their own movement and sound creations, in which our students expressed themselves in a unique way. In accordance with our university’s goal of raising artists who are sensitive to the social environment and world issues, each of them reflected their efforts to cope with the inner difficulties of being human with their voices and movements.
I wish the “World Dance Day” to be a day when we all appreciate our bodies with love, and see ourselves as a soul and body as a whole. Let dance always be in our lives. Happy World Dance Day.
Source (Turkish): Arkın Creative Arts and Design University (ARUCAD)
