Some Turkish folk dances are only performed by men. But Ceyda Tanc isn’t having any of it. The Brighton-based choreographer of Turkish heritage redesigns the traditional zeybek “eagle” dance for her company of six women in a way that has girl power written all over it. Kizlar (meaning girls), which premiered at this year’s Brighton festival, is a demonstration of sass, power and self-possession.
Like the female flamenco dancers who first performed the men’s firecracker footwork, or the female breakdancers who took up headspinning, there is great power and symbolism in reversing the status quo. Tanc trained in contemporary dance, but also at the State Conservatory of Turkish Music in Izmir and all her influences come into play alongside a 21st-century feminism.
Kizlar is built on an electronic score by Brighton producer Asta Hiroki that incorporates traditional Turkish sounds, the ney (flute), the oud and the doumbek drum. The women are locked into the underlying tug of the music’s pulse, their arms surging like waves lapping against the shore again and again. The mood verges on trance-like, the atmosphere thick with sound.
They move into a hip-swinging swagger, strutting across the stage. It’s very feminine, very contemporary, not unlike the street style waacking, a close corps of women, their expressive arms flying overhead in tight formation. Tanc’s choreography is full of detailed pattern and lacy symmetry. There is rich expression in the dancers’ arms and shoulders, succinct detail in their hands, the twist and flick of wrists. There are corkscrewing spins, like the whirling Sufis – also traditionally men – but all these elements are absorbed rather than parroted.
Increasingly Tanc’s dancers turn up the contrast, from delicate bourrées on the balls of their feet into low-slung fighter stance. The zeybeks were warriors, these women are not aggressive so much as unafraid, faces proudly to the front, owning it more and more as the piece goes on. In pink frilly dress, baggy trousers or black underwear, Tanc presents different images of femininity, and the company present a united energy, a solid sisterhood. Who run the world? Girls.
• Brighton festival continues until 28 May.
