IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING US, NOW IS THE TIME!
We are starting our third year of Folk Dance classes which are taught in English. During our classes we practice traditional dances from various regions of Turkey. This is a volunteer lead initiative. Our class motto is dancing, exercising and having fun. Our folk dance team participates 3-4 performances annually. You do not need previous dance experience to join our classes, beginners are welcome. Please check our Events Calendar or contact our dance instructor Mehmet Unal for changes and updates to our schedule.
DATES:
Our rehearsals are held every Tuesday evening at 7: 30PM - 9:15PM (unless otherwise notified)
Registration Fee: $60. ($40 for students).We use the cheddar up app to collect payments. This fee covers our studio, tax and insurance expenses. Our instructor Mehmet Unal is volunteer instructor. We take turns leading the class per his direction at times when he is not available.
LOCATION:
Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, 2704 Alcatraz Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
CLASS STRUCTURE:
10 min - Warm-up
30 min - Practicing Previously learned Dances
10 min -Break
30 min- Learning New Dance (Trakya region for Spring 2020)
10 min - stretching
CLASS PREPARATION:
Comfortable clothing (yoga pants, tights tshirts)
Everyone must have clean and comfortable exercise Shoes to avoid injury. No outside shoes are allowed into the dance studio.
Bring your water bottle.
There is no food allowed into the studio.
Use Scent Free deodorants.
DURING CLASS:
We have serious fun. This means we pay attention and also enjoy eachothers' company respectfully.
Newcomers are welcome, we will revisit old dances to teach new comers, and include new choreography to our repertoire in addition to the old ones. This means we look to our group for inspiration and past knowledge for certain dances if they had danced before.If not we collectively research and part take in the evolution of the choreography
Allowing 5 minutes to stretching at the end of the class to avoid injuries.
PERFORMANCE LOGISTICS
BOOKING:
We are a team of volunteer folk dancers, and we are happy to dance at events in exchange for donations to Berkeley Turkish School.
Organizations or individuals can submit online a document request for booking our folk dance performances.
COSTUMES:
BTS provides the costumes which are custom made and brought from Turkey.
It is the performers' responsibility to air dry, clean, iron and return promptly after the performances.
We request each dancer to have a pair of performance dance shoes matching to the team's footwear for performances. We will share this information during class.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION:
After connecting with the booking organization and getting a clear understanding of the audience, and the event type our instructor Mehmet Unal decides which performers get to perform what type of dances are suitable for each venue.
Our general rule is that dancers must be present at 3 consecutive rehearsals to perform at a show.
