heartquake is a choreographic tryout on living on shaky ground; both metaphorically and literally. It is inspired by Turkey’s political and geographical realities and focuses on the idea that “The land shapes the habitants’ way of thinking.”
I started this artistic research right after the big earthquake took place in the southeast part of Turkey (06.02.2023) which caused thousands of people’s deaths. It was the time when the “unholy trinity” of uncertainty, insecurity, and unsafety was at its peak. That was like a bad summary of the region; it is not possible to build something in there; a career, a family, a home, a life… There is always something that happens to demolish what has been established. Sometimes it’s an earthquake or sometimes it’s bad political situations…
How can you imagine a future for yourself while the big shake is on the way and the shakes constantly change what you’ve dreamed of? In a land where people grow up hearing about ancient cities once they have been all destroyed by earthquakes, how can you build something when you know it’ll eventually be demolished? How can you put trust in an institutions which is basically a building made of concrete? When everything keeps falling apart, what is left other than each other’s support and the endless effort of human beings? Maybe to a far extent, this may even explain the so-long-presence of the one political person.
People do not have to have anxieties just because of political situations or maybe all the anxieties are political.
Corinth, the homeland of Sisyphus is one of the most seismically active places in Europe.
Credits
Choreography: Ekin Tunçeli
Dance: Halil İbrahim Aygün, Gizem Seçkin, Diren Ezgi Yıldızkan
Sound produced by: Barış Bingöl, including tracks from various artists: Ah! Kosmos, Maxime Denuc, Etta James, Barış Bingöl and Riffittelyä I by Cucina Povera & Haron.
Sound supervisor: Ah! Kosmos
Costume: Mert Yemenicioğlu
Production Assistant: Büşra Tuna
Light Design: M.Ali Dönmez
Special thanks to MAKOR people & Jennifer Lacey, Zorlu PSM, Stina Nyberg, Ufuk Fakıoğlu, Melih Kıraç, Beste Demir, Martin Siewke; Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası, Zeynep & Irmak Koyuncu, KHAS Film ve Drama, MSGSÜ Modern Dans ASD., Akbank Sanat, Exanimo house, Güneşülkesi Sanat for studio support
Biography
Ekin Tunçeli is an artist who creates choreography-based productions. Besides being a choreographer, she is a contemporary dancer, singer, actress, and performer. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and has BA in Contemporary Dance from MSGSU Contemporary Dance Department (İstanbul), which makes her creations both analytic and initiative. Ekin Tunçeli explores choreographic elements with an understanding of the interdisciplinary approach, blends the familiar with the unusual by using objects and images in the collective memory. Her solo piece “bir şey” has been selected as Twenty20 by Aerowaves. She has worked with TalDans, Beyhan Murphy, Clement Layes, Aslı Bostancı, Gizem Aksu, Fatih Gençkal, and Harriet Plewis as a performer, worked with theater groups as a movement designer. She is a former member of the Bogazici Jazz Choir and worked as a choreographer with them.
