The Circassians: Dance of the eagles

In this video we are in beautiful Istanbul in Turkey.

You will be watching the dance of The Circassians, Çerkesler, an ethnic group living in Istanbul.

You will learn who the Circassian people are and why dance is so significant for their identity.

This is the first part of our stories that we will be telling from Istanbul. There will be more to come; so do not forget to subscribe.

For the Circassians dance is identical to the survival of their identity.

We are following a group of young Circassians while they are telling the elements of their culture.

First we watched their practice session in the Yıldız Technical University and then they organized a “wedding”, düğün in Turkish, for us in the Üsküdar district of İstanbul.

Then they also took us to a social gathering of the Circassians at another part of Istanbul.

Düğün actually means wedding in Turkish; but for the Circassians it means celebration. They name the social gatherings where they dance as wedding, düğün.

They always dance to live music which makes the experience much more incredible.

The Circassians were exiled to Anatolia during the Ottoman era in the 19th century. Actually it is a sad story.

First we’ll listen to Akanda Taştekin. She’ll tell us who the Circassians are and how they came to Turkey.

Then Akanda and her friends will tell more about the Circassian culture, music and dance.

#Circassians #Circassiandance
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In Dance Journals, we are telling the stories about dance from inspirational dancers to dances from all over the world.

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