One of our contributors, Mustafa Çankaya, recently sat down to chat with Duygu Etikan, the founder and creative director of the International Istanbul Street Dance Carnival; the sixth annual festival was just held in Istanbul this past month. Mustafa, who attended and photographed this year’s festival, spoke to Duygu about the Carnival and her own artistic endeavors — not only is Duygu the founder and creative director of the Street Dance Carnival, she is also a kick-ass choreographer and filmmaker.
Mustafa Çankaya: How did you come up with the idea of Street Dance Carnival?
Duygu Etikan: I actually studied film, and as a part of my studies I was going to all these dance festivals around the world. I was so inspired by them that when I came back to Turkey, I wanted to do the same here. So at Bahçeşehir University, where I was a student, I founded a dance club of sorts and the first two years we did the street dance carnival there. But it was only a performance — there was no competition — and the groups chose what type of dance to perform, like jazz, modern dance, hip-hop, etc.
But everybody began saying that we needed more hip-hop performances, as it’s not a popular concept in Turkey, especially in Istanbul. So we gave it a try and the third year we added the hip-hop competition. We decided to take the other dances out, and each year since we’ve added other dance styles that are more in line with hip-hop; we added popping the next year and house dance the year after that.
And FreeZone was the last dance added?
We actually added FreeZone in the first year. So now, in total, we have hip-hop, FreeZone, popping and house. But this is it, we’re not going to add any more.
What about breakdance?
Everyone always asks why there is no breakdance in Istanbul Street Dance Carnival. First of all, it requires a lot of extra time — you have to give at least an additional two hours or so for a breakdance competition, and we don’t have the time as we rent the venue for a limited time. Also, there are more break dance competitions in Turkey already, but there are only a few hip-hop competitions. So we want to help the hip-hop scene grow. And in Istanbul, we are the only event that is international and mainly focused on hip-hop that offers so many different categories — hip-hop men, hip-hop women, popping, house and FreeZone
As we see you are organizing a huge event, who is you biggest supporter for the event?
My family is my biggest support! As for sponsors, the consulates are a big support every year. First it was the Netherlands Consulate General Istanbul, who helped us bring in international dancers for the first time, then the Sweden Consulate Istanbul supported us and this year the Consulate General of the United States Istanbul supported the event. Other sponsors provide gifts for the winners and DJ set up. Most importantly, the Turkish dancers really support the event and make it happen, it’s their beautiful energy that keeps us going — they come from all over Turkey to take part in the Carnival. Having people from your country support you and your event is so important. For example, the Moon Star Crew from Izmir, who had an amazing performance this year, asked their school to give them a bus and Ege University supported them, and in turn were a big support for us.
We all know that sponsorship is significant. How hard is it to find sponsorship in Turkey?
It is so hard. We approached a lot of companies. But we found that if you want to find a sponsor, it’s not about the companies, it’s about the person. You have to find the right person who likes your style of art and wants to support it.
I’ve followed this event for the last 3 years, and I’ve noticed that it’s getting bigger every year. What is your ultimate goal for this event? For instance, do you want a live stream on TV?
Every dance event in the world starts out like this, like us, but then they get bigger and move to stadiums. For example, there is one in Paris called Juste Debout and 18,000 people are watching; it takes around 10 hours, you enter at 1:00 pm and leave at 11:00 pm. There are a lot of big shows like this all over Europe. So my ultimate goal would be reach to more people, to make it more crowded and to have sponsors come to us instead of us going to them, and of course to be on TV.
But we also want to be a brand. We want people to think of the Istanbul International Street Dance Carnival as the dance festival in Istanbul. Like all the other film or music festivals, we want to become a brand name (but for the dance scene).
There were worldwide famous dancers in this year’s Carnival — do they come on their own or have they been invited?
This year we had so many dancers who came on their own from different countries. For example, Salah from France came. He is very famous in the hip-hop dance scene. He came all by himself, which surprised us; he just wanted to be here. Some of the other dancers are brought by consulates. The Consulate General of the United States Istanbul helped us bring in two of the judges, Suga Pop and Buddha Stretch. They are dance legends who have worked with Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and lots of other well-known artists. But other dancers from Denmark, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Germany, France and Switzerland came by themselves. We truly appreciate the support.
Let’s talk about you for a minute, what do you do apart from being the coordinator of this Carnival?
I attended dance school in New York and film school in Turkey, so you could say I do both. I choreograph for music videos or commercials and work with a lot of singers or commercials on dance-related stuff. I work in film festivals — Istanbul International Short Film Festival, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival — and this year I worked at the Istanbul Film Festival. I also make documentaries. For example, I made a documentary called Under the Spotlight. I shot it in America. It’s about 6 choreographers who have worked with big stars, like Michael Jackson, Beyoncé and Alicia Keys, and how they get to that level. You can see a trailer for it here.
Duygu, you travel a lot, what do you think is the level of street dance in Istanbul when comparing it to the other cities?
In Istanbul, or let’s say in Turkey, we really don’t have hip-hop classes, although it’s growing now. There are a few hip-hop and breakdance classes, but popping and house practically don’t exist. Locking — we don’t have any at all! So it’s growing slowly because the dancers are trying to educate themselves, which is difficult since there are so few classes in Turkey. And it’s very hard for Turkish dancers to go to Europe because of visa issues. So that’s why European or American dancers are mostly at a higher level than us. While we have Istanbul Street Dance Carnival once a year, there are weekly events in parts of France and Germany. So they just have more experience. Right now we are trying to learn and use these techniques; the level of street dance in Istanbul is getting better. We are the new generation and will take it to a higher level, for sure.
Finally, who are your favorite musicians, dancers and DJs?
For musicians, I really like Missy Eliott, Lauren Hill, Beyoncé — I like her performances a lot. I mostly like hip-hop artists, like TLC and Usher. I also like the Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Bob Marley and Pink. I used to watch all the videos of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and of course James Brown.
As for DJs, I like the ones who played at the Carnival, DJ Ice-C & Steve Veusty. there was one Turkish DJ who played with us this year, his name is Ahmet Aktaş. There is also this guy from France called Samuel, and then there’s DJ Crash (Udo Sievering), DJ Khaled and DJ débruit. As you can see I like a lot of DJs.
And dancers?
I look up to Luam from the States, I think she is a crazy good choreographer. I’ve known her for ten years, she is my mentor. I really like Laure Courtellemont from France, she was my first dancehall reggae teacher. Also Tanisha Scott, whose background is in dancehall but is also a creative director for many artists. I really like the hip-hop style of Niako Lamarre from France, who was our Judge last year. I like all the pioneers, like Elite Force, Electric Boogaloos. There’s also Lyle Beniga, Kyle Hanagami, Parris Goebel and Tricia Miranda from L.A. I always watch their videos. Actually, I like all dancers and choreographers who are creative and original. The duo Hilty and Bosch from Japan are great. There are so many talents in the world, I can’t name them all.
Thank you very much, Duygu, for your precious time. Hope to see you at the 7th Istanbul International Street Dance Carnival.
You’re welcome. And yes, hopefully I’ll see you at the 7th Carnival!
Photo Credit: Mustafa Çankaya
