Turkey ”Hobi Sanat Kulubu Halk Danslari Grubu”

Turkey is a highland and mountainous country. Only a small part of their European and coastal areas are located in the lowlands. One can say that a significant part of Turkish folklore is folklore of mountain lands. Of course, the different Turkish regions are ethnically and culturally diverse and their musical and dance traditions are different. This year’s International Festival of Highland Folklore will be able to see these differences thanks to the HSM Hobby Arts Center’s Ankara performance. In spite of a little more than two years of training, the group has almost 1,000 members working under guidance of renowned Turkish folk choreographers. The group was founded in the capital of the country, but its repertoire comprises of dances from all mountain regions of Turkey. Only a part of this large group will perform on the festival stage. Dancers will present a rich program of dances, such as the Anatolian popular requiring dynamic agility, or Kaşik Oyunlari – a dance with wooden spoons. The audience will also see the typical Black Sea region, performing at a very fast pace, horon dance, with a characteristic movement of shaking arms. In their repertoire the group also has the most popular and spectacular dance show in Turkey – the dervish dances, derived from mediating on the body in very swift movements.

The group wish to be in category III: stylized