Staging a ritual dance out of its context: The role of an individual artist in transforming the Alevi Semah
Asian Folklore Studies, cilt.64, sa.2, ss.247-260, 2005 (Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 64 Sayı: 2
- Basım Tarihi: 2005
- Dergi Adı: Asian Folklore Studies
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.247-260
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Alevi, Ritual dance, Semah, Style, Turkish
- Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This essay examines a historical process in which a ritual dance event is staged out of its ritual context. It tells the story of an individual folk artist, Durmuş Genç, who singled out the dance aspect (namely the semah ) of the Alevi cem ritual. Genç was a member of the Alevi community, an unorthodox Islamic sect in Turkey widely dispersed throughout Anatolia. Employed at Boǧaziçi University in the late 1960s, he was exposed to the urban folk dance tradition in its heyday through the members of the University Folklore Club. The exchange between Genç and the members of the Folklore Club led the Alevi semahs to be staged for the first time by non-Alevi performers, and as part of a "Turkish folk dance" repertoire. The essay shows how an individual artist had a significant impact on the nationalization of a ritual dance and also examines his responses to the issue of "style" in dance.