Biz, MDT, 28.10.2024, Süreyya (Istanbul)

Basic Info:

• Creators and Staging: Bedirhan Dehmen, Canberk Yıldız, Cem Yıldız, Mihran Tomasyan
  Concept and Choreography: Bedirhan Dehmen
  Music Arrangement: Cem Yıldız
  Lighting Design: Kerem Çetinel
  Costume Design: Günsu Sarı

Biz (Us, in Turkish) is an interesting work by MDT (Modern Dance Group) of Istanbul State Opera and Ballet. It is partly an improvised movement by three dancers to live music performed and controlled by Cem Yıldız (whose albums are available on music platforms) Music is mostly Turkish traditional folkloric music by bağlama, vocals and some digital pads, beats and loops.

The whole backdrop is a video screen, that is occasionally held by one of the dancers, or sometimes by some backstage member, zooming in, showing what is going on from another angle.

The dancers walk onto the stage slowly through the walkways between the audience seats. I just thought of the line; “There were three men came out of the West / Their fortunes for to try”. These three men, each were wearing shirts of pale shades of the basic colours; blue, red, and green. So they are pieces and their combination / union / intersection / addition makes white light.

Not all of this was easy to watch, there is a lot of tugging, scraping, wrestling, fighting, desperation, struggle that translates into quite uncoordinated movements and that is the message. When they do find a working ground, some interesting patterns emerge.

I found this quite thought provoking, and also tells a lot about the country it originates from - the balance between friction and flow is ever changing but certainly for things to work, different elements as red, green and blue - essentially different? - will need to come together.