Artists gather for ‘Dancing Across Borders’ event

ARTVİN - Hürriyet Daily News

Project artists, art operators and academics from France, Georgia and Turkey gather for ‘Dancing Across Borders’ in the Hopa district of Artvin.

The Black Sea region’s Artvin is home to a dance festival that highlights dancing and diverse cultural backgrounds. The artists and activists attending the festival aim to unveil the cultural heritage of the area. Project artists, art operators and academics from France, Georgia and Turkey gathered together for “Dancing Across Borders” in the Hopa district of Artvin. Workshops, performances, presentations and events will take place during the project, which will enliven the Black Sea region from June 12 to 19. The project is expecting the participation of Hopa and Batumi citizens, cultural initiatives operating in different disciplines from the Hopa-Batumi region, local artists, Turkish, Georgian and European artists, art initiatives in Turkey, Georgia and France, international contemporary art groups and everyone interested in culture and art.

Dance culture of Black Sea

The event has revealed the dance culture of the Black Sea region. The dance types in the region have similarities. Dance is merely a part of daily life in the region. Despite this, the public is not very familiar with new dance types such as contemporary and modern dance. The Hopa district of Artvin is certainly a cosmopolitan city and a central passage point with its proximity to the Batumi city of Georgia. Thus, it is not surprising that several artists from Europe and Turkey turned their interest to Hopa for all these reasons. The “Dancing Across Borders” project has launched with the cooperation of art institutions from Turkey, France and Georgia.

The aim of the festival

The primary purpose of the project is to create body awareness with “dance and action” themed events. Throughout the project, artists coming from different cities of France, Georgia and Turkey will include the local community in the dance performances, workshops, presentations and events. After presenting pieces from modern dance to the local spectators, the content of the performances will be discussed. During the project, artists and researchers will have the opportunity to share their experiences, practices and visions by meeting with local artists from different disciplines and local community interested in the topic. The workshops will be open not only to local artists, but also to anyone who does not have any relationship with dance. Thus, the local community will question the relationship between art, ecology and life and body and space awareness will also be increased. A drama workshop for youth will also be organized within the scope of project events. The project aims to contribute to artistic development by supporting local artists and will also lead the young dancers in the region in establishing sustainable relationships with institutions at abroad or in other cities. Communication channels will be opened between local artists and Europe. This year the project period will also be a process of developing future perspectives. With the outcomes of the action, the partners will also start to work on a more elaborated project in the long term or in a co-production. The long-term objectives of the project are to contribute to the augmentation of international artistic projects of high quality in the Eastern Black Sea region through international collaborations and to raise awareness among the local people about others and other cultures and “Europeanness,” and also to facilitate a dialogue and mutual understanding between different European organizations in a larger area and to contribute to the creation of a sustainable collaboration and a channel of networking between these organizations. The aim of the project is also to influence local authorities in Hopa for the establishment of a cultural center in Hopa by showing the persistence of the Biryasam initiative in animating cultural life in the region.