Turkey’s capital Ankara will host an international dance festival this weekend, welcoming 26 global dancers from 16 countries.
The International Solo Contemporary Dance Festival, which “aims to offer a different perspective on individual movement in the field of contemporary dance,” will be held at the Cermodern open-air stage between June 28-30.
The second edition of the three-day event, supported by Culture and Tourism Ministry, will gather 20 dancers from France, Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy, the U.S., Austria, Lithuania, Taiwan, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Guinea, Israel, as well as six dancers from Turkey.
Zihni Tumer, art director of CerModern, told Anadolu Agency: “Our basic goal with this international event is to both contribute to modern dance culture in Ankara and introduce dancing [tradition] in Turkey to the world.”
Describing the solo dance category a “reflection of innovative point of view in dance”, Tumer said: “Solo dancers are a kind of historiographers and storytellers of the recent history of their countries.”
SoloDans Ankara has collaborated with Solocoreografico dance festival of Turin, Italy this year, aiming to create an artist-to-artist platform,” according to CerModern’s official website.
Tumer also praised the last year’s dance festival. “Not only reactions from Ankara but also from Europe was incredible.”
The first edition of the event invited dancers last year, however, the international organization accepted applications this year, he added.
“We’ve got around 300 applications from across the world, from America to Taiwan, India to Mexico, Africa to Russia and from almost every country of Europe.,” the art director elaborated.
