Celebrate vintage jazz dance styles at Swing Istanbul

Though big band, jazz and swing music all emerged from the dance halls of America in the early decades of the 20thcentury, swing dance has become popular again today. Swing festivals and swing fashion can be found everywhere in Europe and America and Swing or Lindy Hop classes can be found in most cities. Hakan Durak is one of the ambassadors for the emerging Istanbul Swing and Lindy Hop scene. Though trained as an engineer, Hakan gradually let a style of jazz dance change his life course and has become committed to spreading its vintage fun in his home city. He has been giving workshops in Turkey since 2008 and in 2010, he opened the Swing Istanbul studio. Daily Sabah had the chance to sit down with him and learn some more about his story.

Daily Sabah: So how did you get into Lindy Hop and Swing?

Hakan Durak: Well it's because of a video. The ULHS, 2006, fast finals. Ultimate Lindy Hop showdown.

DS: What do you mean? How did you find it?

HD: I was living in Iceland, but on a trip to Istanbul I took some Salsa lessons with a friend. It changed my life and then I went back home to Iceland and there was this class, they said it was going to be Salsa and it was kind of a sampler. We did Jive, Foxtrot, East Coast Swing, almost everything within about an hour. But no Salsa! So I go back to my house and I'm trying to search around to learn a little bit more about what swing dancing is. It was like the first month, the first year of YouTube and there was this Lindy Hop video. And I have to tell you - I used to play saxophone in jazz orchestra - I didn't like jazz music that was made before 1960. I thought swing was too simple. But then I watched this video and the whole swing orchestra and even from the first eight beats I thought, wow. This is what I want to do. And I sent it to a friend of mine and he said okay. The ULHS, 2010. We're going to be there.

DS: So how did you get the swing community here started?

There was no Lindy Hop in Iceland or in Turkey. I started going to some workshops around Europe, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, France, Spain. The economy was really good back then in Iceland. So I was working three days a week and I could travel a lot. I was learning from the best teachers in Stockholm, Sakarias Larsson, also Frida Segada. I stayed there for almost a year, went to every class - from beginning to advanced - so I could see how they're teaching, performing, giving classes, and then coming back to Turkey every month and giving workshops. And I then I decided to open the studio in May of 2010 to build a community here in Istanbul. When I first opened the studio the whole community wasn't more than 40 people actively dancing. We had about 10 students. Now, in 2016 counting with the other school, the students alone are over 300.

DS: Did you have international connections then too? What's the scene?

Yeah, we have a festival. Orient Lindy Express is a five-day festival we host. The best teachers around the world come to Istanbul and last year we had 36 teachers and 350 guests from 28 countries. And then last year we hosted the Hot Sugar Band from France and Swedish and American DJs. It's a big festival. And the Istanbul Lindy Exchange, it's all about parties. The Swedish band Gentlemen and Gangsters came from Goteborg. We had to cancel this year's Orient Lindy Express festival because of the political troubles, the coup, but it's one of Europe's largest Lindy Hop festivals.

DS: What exactly is the difference between Lindy Hop and Swing?

Well swing is an umbrella term for several kinds of dances. Lindy hop is a specific dance. It came out of Harlem in New York City in the 1930s. The biggest and best dance hall at the time was the Savoy and everyone was going there. So they sent a reporter there to cover what was going on and he asked what the new dance was. "We're hopping like Lindy did." Lindy being Charles Lindbergh, who had just flown across the Atlantic for the first time. And so The New York Times ran the headline the next day, Lindy Hop Craze.

DS: I'm very curious, why do you think a style of music and the accompanying dance from the 1920s and 30s and 40s in America have become so popular across Europe and especially in Turkey?

It has something to do with this vintage fashion around the world. In the states, this retro style in the 1990s was a big thing. I think first how people got attracted was through the fashion, and then -

DS: And some people were like, "oh, let's pretend to be from the era."

Right. And then some people got really serious with dancing. But in Turkey? I'm not sure. I just like the music. I like the dancing. For Turkish people it's about happiness, because they see people smiling all the time.

DS: But why swing as opposed to something else?

Well Tango is seen as serious dancing, Salsa is kind of show off, flashy, but most of the people who come to lindy hop as far as I can see don't want to do something like salsa or tango, they want to do something fun. And Jazz... I think people here listen to Jazz, like Ella [Fitzgerald] or Louis Armstrong more than they listen to Tango, and it's sophisticated. It's got roots.

DS: So it's got this great soundtrack, but it's a fun dance for the common individual.

Yeah. So when they see someone dancing with Louis or Ella music, they think, oh wow, you can actually dance to this! I got a lot of comments along those lines. That's what I actually thought when I first saw that video. Like wow! People are shining, very happy, and so...light. It's light. When you get into this, it's a very energetic dance, you move around a lot, you sweat a lot. Your serotonin goes up. Then you get hooked and you try to bring your friends. I actually did salsa and tango but I never felt the same exhilaration that I did doing swing or lindy hop.

DS: So I am a total beginner. I have never done any sort of social dance before. Do you think that someone like me could learn to do this?

Absolutely, absolutely.

DS: Reasonably? Would I do okay at one of those social dances you host? How long would that take?

[Laughing] Well, let's put it this way. You could learn reasonably in six months, if you practice. Or even after the first class. We give the very basic steps in the first class so you can go anywhere you want to go from there. To get really good, to do all the moves you'd want and dance really nicely, it would be two or three years.

DS: Do you have any favorite bands or tunes to dance to?

Savoy by Hot Sugar Band. The song is from the 20s but the band is modern, from France. Benny Goodman's "Let's Dance," Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, I love Cab Calloway, but Benny Goodman is my thing. Well it's fun, really. I think there's a melancholy note in this one, actually. [Durak opened a song on his phone and played it for me here.]

DS: Really?

You can't hear it? The melancholy?

DS: I don't know, I just kind of want to bounce.

Ah yes, that bounce - that's the most important part of lindy hop dancing.

You can find Durak and his fellow teachers at the Swing Istanbul dance studio on both the Asian and European sides. New classes start every two weeks in Taksim and every three in Caddebostan. The swing community hosts dances on Fridays and Saturdays, sometimes at the studio and sometimes at larger venues - for details visit the Swing Istanbul website (swingistanbul.com).