Turkish folk dances are the

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

s of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Facing three seas, straddling important trade routes, Turkey has a complex, sophisticated culture, reflected in the variety of its dances. The dominant dance forms are types of

line dance A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of dance step, steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each ot ...

. There are many different types of folk dances performed in various ways in Turkey. Zeybek, Teke Zortlatması in Aegean region,

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

Erzurum province Erzurum Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Its area is 25,006 km2, and its population is 749,754 (2022). The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is the fourth lar ...

Halay Halay is the national dance of Turkey and refers to a broad category for all circular and line dances performed throughout the country. Today, it is danced by Turks, Kurds, and Greeks, among others. Halay and similar dances are parts of multiple a ...

in the central, southern, eastern, and southeastern parts of the country,

Hora Hora may refer to: Companies * Hora (company), a Romanian manufacturer of stringed musical instruments People, real & mythological * Hora (pl. Horae), figure from Greek mythology * Hora (surname) * Hora, a member of the Japanese duo Schwarz St ...

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

Horon Horon () is a group of traditional folk dances from the Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Name Etymology The term ''horon'' derives from Greek '' choros'' (, see chorus), which means "dance." The earliest instance of its usage in a Turkic l ...

in the eastern

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

region, Spoon dances in and around

Konya Konya is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium. In 19th-century accounts of the city in En ...

, and

Lezginka The Lezginka () is a folk dance of the Lezgin people, common throughout the North Caucasus. It uses a fast rhythm, and can be either a solo male or a pair dance. According to ''Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, g ...

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

and

Ardahan Ardahan ( ka, არტაანი, tr; ; Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District. With their structure and formation, they are the dances performed by groups in the open. They are spread, in general, over the eastern part of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

(

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

Bayburt Bayburt () is a city in northeast Turkey lying on the Çoruh River. It is the seat of Bayburt Province and Bayburt District.Ağrı Ağrı (; ) is a city in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran. It is the seat of Ağrı Province and Ağrı District.

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

Artvin Artvin (Laz language, Laz and ; ; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is the seat of Artvin Province and Artvin District.Erzincan Erzincan (; ), historically Yerznka (), is the capital of Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is majority Turkish Sunni w ...

provinces). The characteristic of their formation is that they are performed side-by-side, hand, shoulder and arm-in-arm. Woman and man bars are different from one another. The principal instruments of bar dances are

davul The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums ...

and

zurna The zurna is a double reed wind instrument played in Central Asia, West Asia, the Caucasus, Southeast Europe and parts of North Africa. It is also used in Sri Lanka. It is usually accompanied by a davul (bass drum) in Armenian, Anatolian and Ass ...

(shrill pipe). Later, clarinet has been added to women's bar dances. The dominant measures in bars are and . Occasionally, measures of and are used.

Aksak In Ottoman musical theory, ''aksak'' () is a rhythmic system in which pieces or sequences, executed in a fast tempo, are based on the uninterrupted reiteration of a matrix, which results from the juxtaposition of rhythmic cells based on the alter ...

measures which are also the most characteristic measures, in particular, of the Turkish folk music are applied with extremely different and interesting structures in this dance. They normally wear costumes as they dance. They always dance with pride and they turn their hands as they hop dance.

Halay

Halay is a term used for some of the folk dances found in Turkey and is performed to a large extent in Eastern, South-central, Central, and Southeastern Turkey. The rhythmic and choreographic elements of these dances are very diverse. These dances are mostly performed with

and

combination as well as with

kaval The kaval is a Diatonic and chromatic, chromatic end-blown flute, end-blown oblique flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and ...

(shepherd's pipe),

sipsi The sipsi () is a clarinet-like, single-reed instrument used mainly in Turkish folk music, folk music and native to the Aegean region of Turkey. The word ''sipsi'' is possibly Onomatopoeia, onomatopoeic. The sipsi can be made of bone, wood, or Ree ...

(reed),

çığırtma Çığırtma or çağırtma is a Turkish folk instrument of the wind type. The çığırtma is made from the wing bone of an eagle. It is known to be used mostly by shepherds and is an almost forgotten instrument today. It has a total of seven me ...

(fife) or

bağlama The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...

(an instrument with three double strings played with a plectrum) or performed when folk songs are sung.

Horon

The horon (Greek: horos asculine noun, singular form, nominative, which derives from the Greek word: choros () meaning dance in both

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

and modern

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, Turkish: Horon, is a dance style found in the Black Sea region, now modern Turkey. The dances called Horon derived from the Laz culture of the area and are circular in nature, each characterized by distinct short steps. Horon was originally a Laz pagan dance. Horon or the round dance is a typical folk dance of the Black Sea coastal area and its interior parts. Horons appear very different from the folk dances in other parts of the country with their formation of tempo, rhythm and measure. Horons are performed, in general, by groups and their characteristic measure is For their melodies are rendered very fast, it is very difficult to render them with every instrument. For this reason, rendering with a drum and zurna becomes practical. Melodies of horon are performed with the small type of zurna which is called 'cura'. In addition, in the interior parts blowing instruments such as bagpipe mey (again, a small zurna) etc. The other measures used are , and .

Zeybek

Zeybeks are, in general, the widespread folk dances of the Western Anatolia. Zeybek dance originated from the

Zeybeks Zeybeks, sometimes spelled as Zeibeks ( ''Zeibekoi''; ), were irregular military, irregular militia and guerrilla fighters living in West Anatolia from late 17th to early 20th centuries. History Origins The origins of Zeybeks are debated with ...

of the Aegean region. The dance is rendered by one person or two or by a group of people and its name changes for example as 'seymen' in the central parts of Anatolia. Zeybek dances are formed, in general, of measures and have a variety of tempos such as very slow, slow, fast and very fast. Very slow zeybek dances have the measure of , slow ones and some others . Very fast dances, for instance, teke (goat) dance seen in Burdur – Fethiye region can be regarded as dances of zeybek character, they have the traditional measure of . There is another folk dance named as bengi in the zeybek region. It is performed more differently from the zeybek and has got a different musical feature and the most characteristic measure of bengi dance is . Particularly in slow zeybeks, the traditional instruments is drum and zurna combination. The use of 2 drums and 2 zurnas in combination is a tradition, function of one of the zurnas is accompaniment, in other words, it accompanies the melody with a second constant tune. Apart from drum-zurna, a three-double string instrument bağlama, reed, marrow bow etc. are used for fast zeybek dances. In particular, the traditional instrument of the teke (goat) dance region is reed.

Other forms

Karsilamas Karsilamas (; ) is a folk dance spread all over Northwest Turkey and carried to Greece by Anatolian Greek immigrants. The term "karşılama" means "encounter, welcoming, greeting" in Turkish. The dance is popular in Northwestern areas of Turkey, ...

: (a kind of wedding music) and

hora Hora may refer to: Companies * Hora (company), a Romanian manufacturer of stringed musical instruments People, real & mythological * Hora (pl. Horae), figure from Greek mythology * Hora (surname) * Hora, a member of the Japanese duo Schwarz St ...

(from

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

art form of χορεία) type folk dances with melodic and rhythmic structure and with a fast performance facing one another and different cultural structure of the region and the dominant measure is but some other measures are used as well. Their traditional instrument are 2 drum and 2 zurna combination, the most characteristic use of this combination is seen in this region. It can be found also as, Tsifteteli/Çiftetelli. * Kasap havasi/

Hasapiko The hasapiko (, , meaning “the butcher's ance��) is a Greek folk dance from Constantinople. The dance originated in the Middle Ages as a battle mime with swords performed by the Greek butchers' guild, which adopted it from the military of ...

: meaning "the butcher's dance" from "butcher", is a modern dance from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

and

East Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...

. The dance has its origins in Byzantine times by butchers, taken by the Byzantine military. * Kaşık Oyunları: (Wooden-spoon dances): these dances, in general, are mostly spread over the Mediterranean region and have a very different structure with their arrangement performance, rhythmic and melodic characteristics. They are always rendered with wooden- spoons and the characteristic measure is or . The instruments used are beast bow (later violin), baglama and clarinet, in general, they are accompanied by folk songs.

Dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

is probably the best known of the "wooden spoon dances" *

Kolbastı Kolbastı is a popular Turkish dance. It was originally created in the 1930s in the seaport of Giresun on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey. Loosely translated, 'kolbastı' means 'caught red-handed by the police.' According to legend, ...

: Kolbastı is among teens in common and widespread. *

: Lezginka is mainly performed in

Kars Kars ( or ; ; ) is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District.� ...

and

Ardahan Ardahan ( ka, არტაანი, tr; ; Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District.Samah: Samah melodies have the measures of , and . Their traditional instruments are baglama, bow etc. There is no rhythmic instrument. Performance by singing (without any instrument) is also widespread. The most developed samahs are of 3 parts, namely: ağırlama (entertainment), yeldirme (cloak wearing) and koğdurma (dismissing). *

Syrtos SyrtosModern Greek συρτός ''syrtós''; accusative singular συρτό ''syrtó''; plural συρτοί ''syrtoí''; from σύρω ''sýro'' . Also known as sirtos or sirto in English. is a traditional Greek dance in which the dancers link ha ...

: They are

circle dances, originated in

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, named Syrtos, from σύρω, ''syro'', "drag

he dance He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

and can be found mostly at the region of

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

. *

Shiksaray Turkish folk dances are the folk dances of Turkey. Facing three seas, straddling important trade routes, Turkey has a complex, sophisticated culture, reflected in the variety of its dances. The dominant dance forms are types of line dance. There ...

: is Turkish dance, with origins in Black Sea Region.

References

External links

* http://www.anatoliafolk.com (Turkish Folk Dances in USA)
Examples of Turkish Folk Dances in Istanbul, Turkey

Folk Dance Federation of Turkey

Pioneer Turkish Folk Dance Costume Manufacturer
{{Music of Southeastern Europe (the Balkans) Turkish folklore * Folk dances

Halay

Horon

Zeybek

Other forms

See also

References

External links