Staging a Ritual Dance Out of its Context: The Role of an Individual Artist in Transforming the Alevi Semah

Abstract

This essay examines a historical process in which a ritual event is staged out of its ritual context. It tells the story of an individual folk artist, Durmus Genc, who singled out the aspect (namely the semah ) of the Alevi cem ritual. Gene was a member of the Alevi community, an unorthodox Islamic sect in Turkey widely dispersed throughout Anatolia. Employed at Bogazici University in the late 1960S, he was exposed to the urban folk tradition in its heyday through the members of the University Folklore Club. The exchange between Gene and the members of the Folklore Club led the Alevi semahs to be staged for the first time by non-Alevi performers, and as part of a Turkish folk dance repertoire. The essay shows how an individual artist had a significant impact on the nationalization of a ritual and also examines his responses to the issue of style in dance.

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