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Dancer and choreographer Mustafa Kaplan's sight specific work will be presented in the Independent Space for Contemporary Art at Dulcinea on January 27th, 28th, 29th and on February 3rd, 4th,5th. The work titled 'Uyumlama' Mustafa Kaplan studies the identity-space relationship through concepts such as 'hanging in the air, falling, space, gravity'.
In the choreography which makes use of the gallery's architectural structure, the dancers will share the same space with the audience. In the performance, the dancers, Olcay Karahan, Serap Meriç, Bahar Vidinlioğlu, Filiz Sızanlı, Ömer Uysal and Duygu Güngör, will accompany Mustafa Kaplan.
Mustafa Kaplan has worked with many recognised choreographers through out his dance education which began in 1984 with Gevyan Mac Millen. Having performed in many festivals all around Turkey, the artist has also taken place in Aydın Teker's choreographies performed in England, Denmark, Belgium. He received positive reviews with his performance in Switzerland. Mustafa Kaplan who continues to work with the City Theatre and the Dance Factory displays an unusual relationship between the human body and balance. Ordinary actions such as walking, running, falling take on different meanings in his choreographies.
It is being aimed to draw a picture in the space
'Uyumlama' consists of two parts and five dancers. Very little lighting will be used in the space. Kaplan says that it is enjoyable to create illusions on the stage, but in this space it might be too much since the performers will be rather close to the audience. Therefore the gallery space has been emptied out as much as possible and the audience will be entering an empty studio and will watch a rather direct performance.
'Uyumlama' is a performance that was created specifically in consideration with the nature of the space in Dulcinea. "The space is primarily a gallery. It has its unique interior design. To bring out the space we emptied it out, made it bare. The performance turned out to be rather dynamic, energetic and shifting. Coming from a dance background, we tried to make a dynamic performance. We let the space become the frame."
Aydın Teker and Rebecca Lazier had also performed in Dulcinea previously. Teker had made use of the ceiling whereas Lazier used the floor. Mustafa Kaplan goes outside the spaces used by the two artists and prefers to use the interval between above and below which is emptiness in uyumlama. In doing so, Kaplan aims to create a painting in the space.
"You are in the air but you can not hang in there and you have to keep moving. Everything that is hanging carries the potential of eventually falling off. In this case, falling naturally becomes an inevitable part of the process."
In the first part, two people are continuously falling down to the floor trying to create the picture of hanging and falling off. In addition, the square constructions over the space are brought down forming squares on the floor, which establishes a certain dynamism.
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"It has actually become quite a mathematical work. Hanging off from above, bringing the square construction down…Of course, we are improvising when we rehearsing. I believe in the necessity of improvisation. Nevertheless, I do not prefer to do it on stage. I prefer a more refined and prepared performance on stage."
Mustafa Kaplan works on releasing the energy of his body. The parts are completed primarily by the context and the space and somehow all three parts connect to each other.
In the second part of 'Uyumlama', there is an interaction between two women and the columns of the gallery. A bodyly dialogue comes forth in this part.
"First we created a sentence with a certain beginning and an end. We repeated it for a few times and memorized it. Then we divided this sentence into three parts. We caught some moments of transition between the first part and the second part of the sentence. There are some certain corners of the sentence, but every night it cab be performed with some little changes. It carries possibilities, but as a whole it is not based on possibilities."
A refregerator is being used in the third
The third part is related to a refregerator placed in the middle of the space. The refregerator takes part as a foreign object, coming from outside the space. The refregerator which Kaplan had planned to use before this project has a close relationship with the body.
"The transformation that the bodies of the people go through when carrying the refregerator really pushes me towards a performance. We aimed at doing something new that derives from this idea. The refregerator really fit this space well. We are in a gallery with very sharp edges. The refregerator fits this sharpness and this geometry perfectly. We will use the weight and volume of the refregerator here and of course its relationship with the body is really important."
During the performance, the dancers wil wait among the audience, joining the performance when their turn comes. In doing so, it is planned that not only the space, but also the dancers will have a direct relationship with the audience.
As a member of the Dance Factory, Mustafa Kaplan has been working in collaboration on a project with some American and Greek dancers for a year. Under the name of Dance Factory, American, Grek and Turkish dancers will each perform a piece within their own repertoire in February. The actual project will be shaped later on.
Furthermore, Mustafa Kaplan is planning to perform some parts of his choreographies in Geneva during the month of April.
Esra Aliçavuşoğlu,
Cumhuriyet, January 2000
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