ongoing projects > Aydin Teker


Lisbon encounter


Close Encounters 2005-06


Aydin Teker


Aydin Teker
aKabi


Artist in residence

During the month of July, Aydin Teker and her dancers have been working in Lisbon on the creation of her new piece aKabi. Besides the choreographic work, this residency also included research on light and sound, in collaboration with the   Portuguese musicians/composers Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota and the light designer José Álvaro Correia.

aKabi focuses on the potential created by the use of non-conventional shoes. The result is a piece about the limits of movement and balance, a rigorous exercise of unusual sculptural beauty. Aydin Teker's pieces are the result of long periods of research and improvement. "I always start by creating a problem" says the choreographer, "spending the rest of the time trying to solve it. I love to work in a lab environment, where I share the research with the dancers. Together, we go through an extremely intense and enriching process. There are no preconceived ideas of what is right or wrong. We permit the body to find the solutions that we present to the public. Aesthetics is the natural result of this process".


Presentation

At the end of the Lisbon residence, Aydin Teker presents fragments of aKabi at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. The Portuguese premiere of the piece is scheduled for June 2006, during the alkantara festival.

Choreography: Aydin Teker
Interpreters: Ayse Orhon, Olcay Emre, Serap meric, Yüksel Sebnem
Light design: José Álvaro Correia
Sound: Margarida Garcia e Manuel Mota
Co-production: alkantara (Danças na Cidade)


CV

Aydin Teker is a choreographer and dance Instructor who graduated from Ankara State Conservatory in 1973 and joined Ankara State Opera and Ballet as a dancer. In 1976 she got a scholarship and first went to London and then to the USA. She received her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 1982 she came back to Turkey and started working as a Modern dance Instructor and choreographer at Mimar Sinan University, State Conservatory. In 1993 she received her Diploma of Adequacy (equivalent of doctorate degree) and in 2001 the title of professor. 1993 she received a Fulbright research scholarship and went to New York again for a year to explore new developments on somatic theories. Her choreographies have been presented in USA, Belgium, Scotland, Poland, Denmark, England, Switzerland, France, Portugal and throughout Turkey. One of her recent works "Density" got a special award at the 22 nd Zurich Theaterspektakel. Ayd?n Teker is the head of the Modern Dance Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul.