Şebnem SÖZER ÖZDEMİR

The works of Ideogram Théâtre offer a concrete example of how the Sufi teaching of Anatolia (tasavvuf) might today inspire a distinctive approach to the actor's art. With actors who are not only doers but also witnesses of the truth behind their actions, Ideogram Théâtre makes visible the Sufi concept of ayn, which considers each human being a mirror of truth for another. Through their work, the essence of the 700-year-old ritual performance of semâ lives on the theatre stage.

This study essentially aims to put forward the conceptual framework for a transmission project for safeguarding the traditional dances of the people of Circassian origin living in Turkey. Today, due to modernisation and urbanisation, these dances are less and less known and practiced by the members of younger generations, and therefore, a transmission project which would bring different generations together is required. When structuring such a project is in question, significant questions such as what kind of transmission approach is to be chosen and which values must be given importance and priority in this approach emerge. In order to provide answers to these questions, the article identifies as its guides the basic principles in UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, as well as the contextual approaches in dance studies which bring up criticisms regarding certain points in the convention. According to the convention, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage elements such as traditional Circassian dances begins with safeguarding the conditions that ensures the viability of these elements. Besides, UNESCO places particular emphasis on the involvement of local communities, which have until now kept these elements viable and have considered them as part of their identity, to this process of safeguarding. The article first discusses how these dances are viable within the Circassian community at their habitual cultural context, and deduces that these dances are shaped by the concepts of play and xabze that are peculiar to Circassian community. Xabze is the name given to unwritten rules and regulations, which determine almost all social behaviours in Circassian community. With the purpose of maintaining a social order that is based on respect, love and kindness, xabze sets forth strict rules, but it also has a flexible structure that is open to the transformation of these rules in order adapt to changing conditions. Being determined by xabze to a great extent, Circassian dances also provide a convenient environment for the transmission of xabze through generations. On the other hand, the dances in question are referred to with the term "play" both in Circassian languages and Turkish, and the way they are practiced bears the primary qualities of play and playing. As a result, in a project for safeguarding Circassian dances, this study proposes to embrace a transmission approach which prioritises before anything else the safeguarding of the two fundamental contextual elements that shape these practices: xabze and playfulness. At the end of the article, a proposal for a transmission project which follows this conceptual framework and which will be led by the members of Circassian community is presented in outline. In this proposed project, the researchers would act as catalysers of the communication of dance knowledge through generations rather than authorities who exercise control over this knowledge. In conclusion, the article aims to contribute to the fields of dance studies and intangible cultural heritage studies, as well as suggesting a conceptual framework for prospective transmission projects for safeguarding traditional Circassian dances and/or similar cultural elements.

Aksiyon kavramı 20. yüzyıldan itibaren Batılı tiyatro kuramları içinde oyuncunun sanatı üzerine geliştirilen düşünceler içinde önemli bir yer tutmaktadır. Farklı tiyatro uygulamacıları/kuramcılarının bu kavrama getirdiği yeni yorumlar onlara ait kendine özgü tiyatro ve oyunculuk anlayışlarına biçim vermiştir. Bu makale oyuncunun sanatının her şeyden önce aksiyon(lar) yaratmak olduğu fikrini temel alarak, 20. yüzyılda yaşamış üç önemli tiyatro insanı olan Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht ve Jerzy Grotowski’nin aksiyon kavramına yaklaşımlarının ne olduğunu karşılaştırmalı olarak incelemektedir. Amaç bu üç sanatçının her birine ait özgün oyunculuk anlayışının daha derinlikli bir şekilde kavranmasını sağlamaktır. Bu bağlamda Stanislavski’nin geliştirdiği fiziksel aksiyon, Brecht’in karakterin aksiyonuna eklenmesini istediği oyuncu aksiyonu ve Grotowski’nin savunduğu literal aksiyon kavramlarına yakından bakılarak aralarındaki benzerlik ve farklılıklar tartışılmıştır. Sonuçta bu üç yaklaşımın hepsinde oyuncunun sanatının itkilerin keşfi aracılığıyla aksiyonlar yaratmak olarak kabul edildiği ortaya konmuştur. Bununla birlikte, Stanislavski karakterin itkilerinin keşfi aracılığıyla oyuncunun fiziksel aksiyon çizgisinin oluşturmasına odaklanmakta, Brecht karakterin itkileri yanında oyuncunun karakterin aksiyonlarına karşı geliştireceği tavrın da keşfedilmesi gereğini savunmakta, Grotowski ise oyuncuyu gündelik yaşamın dışına taşıyan ve ona bir insan olarak gelişiminde yol gösteren özel aksiyonların ortaya çıkmasına yol açacak itkilerin peşine düşmektedir.

In Western theatre theories starting from the 20th century, the concept of action has occupied an important place within the thoughts that have been developed on the actor’s art. New interpretations of this concept by different theatre practitioners/theorists have shaped their distinctive understandings of theatre and acting. Based on the idea that the actor’s art is primarily creating action(s), this article investigates comparatively how Konstantin Stanislavski, Bertolt Brecht and Jerzy Grotowski, three important theatre people of the 20th century, have approached the concept of action. The purpose is to provide a deeper comprehension of the specific understandings of acting that belong to these three artists. In this context, the article explores the concepts of physical action as developed by Stanislavski, actor’s action that Brecht wished to add to the character’s action, and the concept of literal action as argued by Grotowski, while it discusses the similarities and differences between them. In conclusion, the article puts forward that in all these three approaches, the actor’s art has been considered as creating actions by discovering impulses. Nevertheless, Stanislavski focuses on the formation of the series of physical actions through discovering character’s impulses, Brecht defends the necessity to discover the attitude of the actor towards the actions of the character besides the impulses of the character, and Grotowski pursues impulses, which would lead to the emergence of special actions that take the actor out of everyday life and guide them as a vehicle in the way of being cultivated as a human being.

Meşk is a polysemic concept that originates from traditional Turkish music and denotes both an embodied mode of transmission and a participatory performance style that characterizes Turkish performative traditions. As a traditional mode of transmission, it is the face-to-face training method that is based on the pupil's faithful repetition/imitation of the master's performance. As a performance style, it combines repetition with innovation, as it is based on improvisation according to already existing traditional patterns. This idiosyncratic correlation between repetition and change in meşk produces a unique aesthetics, in which the performers search for the new that does not get old. This search is connected to the mystical teaching of tasavvuf that is particular to Turkish culture. Following tasavvuf's objective of discovering one's self through disciplining the soul by disciplining the body, the performers of Turkish traditions search for their selves through practicing the arts they try to master. In this manner, they act as a part of the traditional chain that maintains heart-to-heart transmission of spirituality.

This study focuses on the habitual practice of Horon at the Black Sea Region in Turkey in the context of a traditional harvest feast called Otçu Göçü Şenliği (Harvesters’ Migration Feast). Horon is a rural-originated traditional movement practice, particular to the region and it is the dominant activity in Otçu Göçü Şenliği, which is originally based on the local seasonal cycle and is characterised by an annual postharvest journey to high plateaus within the mountains. The discussion in this paper is based on the anthropological material collected at İzmiş Harvest Feast, which took place at Beşikdüzü / Trabzon on August 25th, 2013. Although Otçu Göçü Şenliği can be said to bear basic characteristics of a calendrical rite and Horon is usually studied within the scope of folk dance studies, this research aims to look at the current realisation of Horon practice in the harvest feast by focusing on the emic verb used by the actual performers to denote their activity, that is, ‘oyun’. Although oyun in Turkish basically means play, it is also used to express all traditional dance practices in the country. This study tries to look at the practice in question through the lens of performance studies, which interpret play and ritual not in pure opposition, but in close collaboration in creating a performance. It especially focuses on the ‘fl ow experience’ created through the Horon performance in the feast as a result of intense playing, which eventually leads to the emergence of a great sense of collective joy.

Savaş sonrası Japonya’sında ortaya çıkan öncü bir dans olan butō, bedenin özel bir
kavranışına dayanan kendine özgü bir estetiğe sahiptir. Bu estetik, ana akım dansın “ideal beden” anlayışının tersine, modern yaşamın bir sonucu olarak sakatlanmış ve acı çekmekte olduğuna inanılan insan bedeninin bütün çıplaklığı ile sahne üzerinde sergilenmesi ve bu yolla özgürleştirilmesiyle ilgilenmektedir. Bu makale, butō’daki beden anlayışını kavramsallaştırmak üzere, postdramatik tiyatro ve Merleau-Ponty felsefesinin bedene bakışlarına odaklanmaktadır. Butō dansçıdan tüm toplumsal örüntülerin ve benliğin ötesinde yer alan, fakat aynı zamanda tüm diğer canlılar ve şeylerle birlikte dünyanın bir parçası olan “et-beden”inin ifadesini araştırmasını ve aynı anda hem özne hem de nesne olan bu bedeni herhangi bir şeyi temsil etme ihtiyacı duymadan saf mevcudiyeti ile sahne üzerinde sergilemesini bekler. Bu, dansçının bedenini mutlak bir edilgenlik içinde dünyaya vermesi ve kendini ondan gelecek etkileşimlere açmasıyla mümkün olacaktır.

Butoh, which is an avant-garde dance, which has emerged in post-war Japan,
has a distinctive aesthetics that depends on a specific understanding of the body. In contrast to the sense of “ideal body” in mainstream dance, this aesthetics is interested in staging of the suffering human body, which is believed to be crippled as a result of modern life, so that it will be emancipated. In order to conceptualize the understanding of body in butoh, this article focuses on the views of body in postdramatic theater and the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty. Butoh demands from the dancer to search the expression of his/her “flesh-body”, which stands beyond the social patterns and the self, but is a part of the world with other living beings and things, and display this body, which is at the same time a subject and an object, in its pure presence without feeling any need for representing something. This can only be possible, if the dancer gives her body to the world with ultimate passivity and open him/herself to any possible interactions.

Nietzsche, tiyatro ve oyunculuk sanatının temeli olan drama
dürtüsünü, bireyin kendinden çıkıp dönüşerek kendini doğayla
ve diğer insanlarla bir hissetmesine yol açan Dionysosçu dürtü
olarak tanımlamış, türkü ve danslarıyla antik koronun bu Dionysosçu
dürtünün doğrudan sureti ve taşıyıcısı olduğunu iddia
etmiştir. Fakat ona göre bu temel dürtü, Euripides ile
birlikte tiyatrodan kapı dışarı edilmiştir. Bu makale, çağdaş
tiyatroda, oyuncunun sanatında Dionysosçu dürtüyü yeniden
canlandırmaya yönelik bazı yaklaşımlar üzerine bir inceleme
ve eleştiri ortaya koymayı amaçlamıştır. Makalenin temel tezi,
Dionysosçu dürtünün bugün, genel olarak sanılanın aksine
tüm biçim ve kuralları terk ederek değil, tam tersine incelikle
işlenmiş belirli yapılar sayesinde yeniden varedilebileceğidir.

Nietzsche defines the dramatic impulse, which is the basis of
theater and the art of acting as the Dionysian impulse, the impulse
that leads the individual to leave its own being, turn into
something else, feeling him/herself as one with nature and
other people, and claims that the antic chorus was the direct
vision and carrier of this Dionysian impulse. But for him, this
basic impulse has been dismissed from theater with Euripides.
The paper aims to put forward an examination and a critique
about some approaches in the contemporary theater, which aims
to revitalize the Dionysian impulse in the art of actors. The basic
thesis of the paper is that, contrary to the common belief,
Dionysian impulse can be revitalized today by means of certain
subtle structures, instead of abandoning all forms and rules.

This autoethnographic study investigates the transmission of the traditional Japanese dance practice nihonbuyō in a cross-cultural context. As its primary data, it uses the researcher's personal experience as a novice, non-Japanese learner at a three-week intensive training program in Kyoto/Japan (Traditional Theater Training, 2006). Traditionally, the transmission of nihonbuyō is based on the Japanese master-disciple system (iemoto), in which the learner/receiver is expected to carefully observe and faithfully emulate the live performance of the teacher/transmitter as the model. This highly embodied mode of teaching/learning dance involves a process of discovery as well, as the students of buyō are expected to reconstruct what is being taught within their own body and self. This is ensured by a holistic mode of transmission, in which not only a dance form or certain patterns of movement, but also cultural values are transferred to the learner. This study argues that a cross-cultural context of transmission renders these specificities of teaching/learning nihonbuyō quite observable and comprehensible.

This study aims to express the idea of a second year architectural design studio in Beykent University. The re-construction of the boundary is analyzed through space. The relations between the subjective expression, the scientific expression and the forms have been questioned.
Keywords: Body, Boundary, Movement, Event, Action