Concept of dance theatre, benefits of dance antropology methods and models from anatolia

During the modernization efforts of the Turkish Republic, the intellectual elite envisaged that the socio-cultural progress that was missing in the reforms could be accomplished through education and art. However, the concept of modernization was perceived as Westernization, and the potential of folk art to represent high art was not observed.In the category of dance, ?Bale? was taken as the model. It has been debated whether bale, which is far from Anatolian culture and is rooted in European cavalier culture, would be accepted by the Turkish people.On the other hand folk dances, which represent the cultural identity of Anatolia and the codes of motion of the local people, were taken as a tool for nationalization. Folk dances were promoted by the state and a ?national repertoire? was formed.The idea of embedding traditional dance steps within bale was proposed, but the project was not realized for various reasons. The idea was perceived as a ?duty? among bureaucrats and the managers of the ?state bale?, however it was not proposed by the actual producers of dance, the choreographers and the dancers themselves.We argue that in order to resolve the relationship between dance and Turkish society, the issue has to be analyzed form an anthropological perspective. This way the structural characteristics of Anatolian dances and their cybernetic power can be understood and a synthesis can be formed with modern dance forms.This study is aimed at formulating a new representation model for Turkish Folk Dance. Anatolian dances were studied methodologically from the perspective of ?Dance Anthropology?. The findings have shown that the characteristics of expression in Turkish dances can best be synthesized with ?Dance Theatre? modern dance form. Examples have been formulated and performed, and the feedback of the audience has been evaluated.