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Between East and West

Dancer Berrak Yedek fuses folk with the futuristic

By Darrell Jónsson
For The Prague Post
September 13th, 2006 issue

Dancing up a storm. Prague-based Turkish dancer Berrak Yedek appears in two very different programs this week.
"When I'm in Turkey, people can recognize me by my facial features, and say 'you must be from the Black Sea,' " Berrak Yedek says, sipping an espresso at Prague's Chez Marcel. The Turkish-born, conservatoire-trained dancer is quick to refine any generic notions about her heritage or work. Although outside of Istanbul, Yedek might be pigeon-holed as an 'oriental dancer,' Yedek's background includes work with the Contemporary Ballet of Istanbul, France's Compagnie Errance and studies at Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet. However, it was only six years ago in Paris, while working with a Moroccan dance group, that Yedek began to re-examine the line between her Turkish heritage and contemporary dance. "I have oriental dance in my body," she states. "So I started to work on it next to my contemporary dance activities. It sounds a little funny to say contemporary dance/oriental dance so today I prefer to say 'I dance!' and that's it."

Yinon Muallem Ensemble & Berrak Yedek
Where: Divadlo Archa
When: Sept, 19 at 8 p.m.
www.yinon-muallem.com
www.archatheatre.cz

Penthesilea Dreaming
Where: Duncan Centre Theatre
When: Sept. 25 and 29 at 8 p.m.
www.duncanct.cz

This month, Yedek will be involved in two performances that demonstrate an aesthetic that she shares with Asian and European collaborators. At Archa Theatre Sept. 19, Yedek will appear with the Yinon Muallem Ensemble in a live music/dance work titled Klezmer for the Sultan. That this event is sponsored by both the Jewish Museum and the Turkish Embassy seems natural to Yeddek, who reminds us that "there is a tradition of Jewish liturgy done to Turkish music that goes back to the 17th century."

Muallem will lead his ensemble through what Yedek describes as "original compositions based on Turkish classical, traditional and folk music. He takes the Turkish form and gives it a new breath." Most of the music for the Archa performance can be found on Muallem's 2005 Oriente label CD, Klezmer for the Sultan. Although Yedek and Muallem have worked together in the past in Istanbul, this will be their debut European performance.

In contrast, Pentesilea Dreaming, Yedek's other collaborative premiere this month at Prague's Duncan Centre, is a futuristic work combining the vin-chun/kung-fu inspired dance of Yeddek and actor/dancer Andrea Miltnerová. This improvisational dance piece, depicting the queen of the Amazon's mythic encounter with Achilles, will be enhanced by the expressive lighting designs of theater director Jan Komárek.

Yedek has also enlisted the enthusiastic cooperation from Brno-based composer/percussionist Pavel Fajt. Although he is an admitted disciple of Brian Eno, Fajt creates a distinct music dosed with a muscularity seldom found in ambient. Over the past 20 years, Fajt's career has run from his '80s collaboration with Iva Bittová to his work in the '90s with avant-rock ensembles Pluto and Dunaj. In recent years, Fajt has worked more global grooves with the projects known as Drum Trek and Autopilote. His inventive approach will certainly be a perfect fit for Pentesilea Dreaming, which Yedek promises will be "a simultaneous, interdisciplinary creation ... not a fusion ... but a real dialogue of the various arts."

Yedek's local collaborations with artists such as Fajt and Komárek will continue, as will, when opportunity provides, her ongoing work with Muallem and other Istanbul-based musicians. Yedek says she is also scheming on how to stage Pentesilea Dreaming at an ancient Greek amphitheater in Turkey, complete with Fajt's live music and Komárek's lighting. Even though she was born in the Bosphorus city that bridges Europe and Asia, Prague has proved a suitable 21st-century East/West intersection for Yedek. "I love Prague," Yedek says. "It's a perfect place for me to work. It's a lovely little city, calm, beautiful and friendly. And, when I need a little more excitement, I can always go to Istanbul."

Darrell Jónsson can be reached at features@praguepost.com


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