residency: August 2013

Taldans (Mustafa Kaplan and Filiz Sızanlı) (Turkey)

  • Taldans
    • has been established in Istanbul by Mustafa Kaplan and Filiz Sızanlı in 2003. Kaplan and Sızanlı have created many independent and collaborative projects. Some of the projects they have created together are Sek Sek (2002), Solum (2005), Graf (2006), Dokuman (2009) and Eskiyeni (2011). Taldans was named after the Theater Research Laboratory (TAL) of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Theater in which a movement-dance research unit was established by Mustafa Kaplan. A number of individuals who used these studios by the support of Ayla Algan and Beklan Algan have founded ÇATI (Contemporary Dance Artists) Association after leaving Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Theater.

    • Their residency is research orientated and aims to develop social choreography through visiting public spaces in the city, their oral history and collaboration with Polish artists. Around the discovered topis, together with artists met here Taldans wants to onstruct a "game" about those topics. The game will run in between cites, artists and audiences in Warsaw and Istanbul.

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  • Filiz Sızanlı 

    • (born 1975, Eskisehir) – graduated from Istanbul Technical University’s Department of Architecture in 1997. She participated in various projects of Theater Research Laboratory of Istanbul Municipality Theater from 1998 to 2000. In 2000 she was among the co-founders of Çatı Association in a collective artist group. She worked on projects with Mathilde Monnier, Emmanuelle Hyunh, Yann Marussich and Mustafa Kaplan. In 2003 she found Taldans together with Mustafa Kaplan. Her choreographies in Taldans include Üç Ayak (2001), Sek Sek (2003), Graf (2007), Dokuman (2009) and Eskiyeni (2011). Her solo pieces are Solum (2005) and Site (2010).

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  • Mustafa Kaplan 

    • (born 1965, Konya) – started taking dance classes from Geyvan McMillan in Istanbul, where he had moved to study Electronics Engineering at Yıldız Technical University. Although he graduated, he never worked as an engineer. After dancing in the Modern Ballet Company between 1989–1992, he worked at the City Theater of Istanbul as a choreographer and dancer for about ten years. He is the co-founder of dance and performance companies such as Yeşil Üzümler, Dans Fabrikası, Taldans Company, and Çatı Association. Apart from his own choreographies, he danced in Aydin Teker’s and Yann Marussich’s pieces. 

  • www.taldans.com