Thanks to our Girne Belediye we have, since about two years, with the new Amphitheatre a venue to host big events such as the Second Show of the North Cyprus Folk Dance Federation. Many people had come to the event on the evening of September 10 at 20:00 to see 16 folk dance groups from all over the island, 16 member groups with altogether 1000 people. Entrance was free.
The groups had met earlier at 17.30 at the Girne Belediye Square from where they went together down to the seaside to perform at the Atatürk Monument and at the old Customs House.
The federation had formed on 1 March 2006 under the Youth and Sport Ministry of the TRNC with the then minister Özkan Yorgancioglu. President elected is Erdinc Akün.
The general idea of the federation is to conserve the original Turkish Cypriot heritage, especially folkdances, traditional music and costumes. A symposium is planned to lay down the rules concerning the true originality which has been researched for many years.
On the evening of September 10, the groups had come with their own instrumental music groups and with their friends and members to represent their group at stalls established in the entrance area of the amphitheatre, offering typical Cypriot food and art craft besides information on their villages and dance groups.
The president Erdinc Akün spoke to a practically full house about the importance of the federation and their goal to further the development of folk dance. The first group to open the evening seemed to be the senior group of the country from GÜSAD and they danced so well. Among them I discovered Tanju Hastunc who is the organizer and chef of Dance of Cyprus.
All groups were enthusiastically welcomed by the audience, young people clad in most beautiful costumes, and honestly the girls and boys looked ravishing in them. The dance formations were very good. All in all there were over 450 dancers on stage this evening.
We heard where the groups have already been, invited to European and international folk dance events and that is the most important idea of all, that is to go out and meet other for cultural exchange.