"Fire of Anatolia," which has reached 47 million art goers with over 5,000 representations, celebrated its 24th anniversary on the stage of Istanbul's latest cultural hub, the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) on Saturday evening.
"Even though it's our 24th year, we are on the stage with the same excitement that we had on the first day," the project's General Artistic Director Mustafa Erdoğan said when he took the stage before the performance.
Starting with a teaser, the dance show featured a fire lit onstage, adding a special atmosphere by reflecting the name they represent. Blending the folklore of Anatolia's every region in its theme, the team presented a stage performance integrated with their own style.
The show was supported by the ethnic visuals on the background wall, fascinating the audience as each dance move was in harmony with the theme. The youngest and oldest dancers of "Fire of Anatolia," which is a world-class dance project by synthesizing ballet, modern dance and other disciplines of dance as well as folk dances, came together on the same stage.
The show featured sword choreography, a drum show and extraordinary dance figures. The dancers played "zeybek" while Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's photograph was shown in the background. Erdoğan also participated in the zeybek dance, making the audience experience many spiritual feelings together.
At the end of the show, Erdoğan and the entire dance team said goodbye to the audience and unexpectedly danced the "halay." The audience applauded enthusiastically for several minutes. Erdoğan also announced that "Fire of Anatolia" will start its big world tour again in the coming days.
"You will see everyone from a 3-year-old to 60-year-olds dancing and enjoying the event. We have prepared special choreography for today. We are experiencing the excitement of the first day at AKM, which is one of the most beautiful stages in the world right now," Erdoğan described.
The "Fire of Anatolia" dance troupe, which has organized tours in 110 countries since 2001, will perform a dance show every Monday, starting from Jan. 16 at Istanbul AKM.