TUĞÇE TUNA

All your work is about the human body, isn't it? (Laughter)
Yes. Because the space we live in, my means of communication is the body.
 
You describe the body as a space. You also like to perform at unconventional locations. As if there is such a pattern there. You even define yourself as a choreographer who does site specific art ...
Yes this definition has been taught to me. My borders have been drawn on this body. I have been moving since I was eight years old . I have just turned 44. so I have lived a life continuously moving and focused on the body.  Throughout my life, I have communicated with my body,  not just during daily use but through inner and outer parts. My academic life is also built on body construction and structuring. Therefore, I learned to communicate with everything that has a body. I have always taken this as a reference also in psychosomatics as well as body science. I do not limit my creativity only with a black stage. I choose locations in which  different bodies and lives existed and which experienced corporal changes and transformations and was maybe abandoned. I have a motto; "You never ever damage the space you live in." This is my first lesson to my students.
 
You say you grew up with dance; as if your existence depends on dance?
I was in a folklore dance group when I was in the third year of elementary school. Then I did rhythmic gymnastics. We were living in Ankara then. I was a child artist at the State's Opera and Ballet. I was a walker-on before I had any proper education. Before asking myself my favourite colour, I asked myself how I danced. When I say I grew up with dance, there was a system- technique which disciplined, developed me and made me move.
 
What makes you interested in a person?
An interesting question which I have never been asked before. Whatever inside a body attracts me.
 
Can you please elaborate...
For example whatever that person hides from his family, his past, himself attracts me. The body reveals this immediately. Sometimes the person does not realize such things. But I do, and this gives a nice pleasure. I have been teaching at university for twenty years. I have always worked with students in their first and last year as a technical instructor. First year students, freshly out of their old lives, enter into an entirely system. In addition to their habits and life patterns, they come with family and genetic information imposed on them. It is an amazing process to see the changes and improvements in people in three years.
 
What are their most typical preconceptions?
Fear of making mistake!  Acting result-oriented. And I see impatience 
for the last five-six years.
 
What do you think you pile up the most in your body?
These days I get angry too much. I say these days, but I have realized that I have always been like this. I am hot-headed. Now I learn to create a buffer zone before reacting. I try to detect and remove anything which can be acidic in me.
 
OK, when you look at your life now, can you talk about something that you have transformed in you with your work?
This is something more to do with the age… My interest in contemporary dance started in 1992. I had career goals then. Dancing with international artists in the US or having the freedom to dance only with people whose artistic identity and habits and thoughts I like such as Aydın Teker… I love to commit myself. Such people and location allowed me to commit myself. This has made me wiser and made me confront myself.
 
What were the reasons that made you emulate these people?
I can say that it is the right time, right place formula. We were very similar.  Those were the people with whom I could establish mentor-apprentice relationship.
 
Chemistry...
Yes. I am a passionate person but I also work hard. I have great respect in routines. I like to float freely from conventional to modern, new things. That's why when I discuss something high tech I like to integrate and enrich it with ancient knowledge such as Aikido or Indian, Chinese body science or Mesopotamia culture. I believe in the uniqueness of the body in this relative concept of time. Passion, hard-work and the freedom to dedicate oneself to work is also a support from the family. My family never told me, "No you can't do this". I still dance, yes, but physically it feels harder now. Being a teacher, I have a mission of reaching out to more people, more bodies.  As I told earlier, negative and positive feelings co-exist in the body. Yes there is rage but there is also goodness. Plus goodness is contagious. To activate it... I might have learned how to spread it.
 
Have you ever felt that you challenge your body, push your limits throughout this journey?
Of course I have. Actually I start every project to push my limits psychologically and kinaesthetically. It is always possible to choose to stay in the safe zone but I have come here with the approach of how we, I can create a better problem and how we can provide a better solution.  What makes a problem interesting is its being challenging. I am not that interested in experiencing a problem I already know; challenging my habits and patterns such as changing the location or the dancer, manipulating the elasticity of the dancer, thinking about alternatives is more interesting for me. As I know my safe zone very well, I can go in and out.
 
Doesn't having such a high awareness about your body and being there all the time cause a deformation?
I got carried away once. This is a country in which bodies are consumed fast and violently. But, one thing we should be investing especially in this period is our body. I can't help but feel very sad to see young people living without having a discipline or philosophy for their bodies. I used to sit at the tram car stop and watch people wondering if I would ever see someone happy and content with his/her body. Everyone is looking down, sulking, wearing dark clothes, bumping each other, no one is aware own his/her own space and other people's spaces. Teenagers all have horrible spines due to sitting all the time. But, the body is a structure designed to move. Stopping the body, keeping it at a stable position is difficult. This requires a high level of body discipline, training. We process this high level of discipline as an obligation but this is actually contrary to the main source of our existence. I live in Istanbul. One of the most out-of-balance cities. I see very few elderly people or people with walking aids etc. on the streets. As if the city belongs only to those who can survive in a jungle! Then as humans we cannot understand which unity we belong too. Because alienating elderly people in the society means that we lose our old and invaluable knowledge and wisdom. In fact when I see an old person slowly walking, people allowing seats for them... It is so nice to see such things.
 
Do you have worries about your body?
Of course I do. That might be why I teach...
 
How do you calm yourself?
Six days a week I start the day by working my body. It is like having breakfast. I listen to my body then. I dig and remove my negative thoughts. I exercise to balance the distribution of my movements, not to have a negative block that can make me stop moving.
 
You work mostly here but you have also worked in other parts of the world. Which country was the most exciting for you?
I got excited with every invitation I get and I always keep that feeling, excitement alive. My students even ask me; "How can you be so motivated all the time?". Because I am happy with what I do. It is a great blessing for me to spend this process called life like this.  We performed physical theatre with 100 high school students in Germany. These kids had drug or substance abuse problems. Together with their psychologists and teachers we worked for six weeks. In the end we performed on stage. After this project, some continued to have drama education and some preferred to concentrate on dance. Most of them either totally kicked the habit or started to use less; this project was officially reported.
 
You transformed lives...
Yes. We had four choreographers. That project has a deep impact on me. I do dance and movement therapy. I know its transformational power from my own experiences. Once again I understand that language plays no role in the transformation of the body. Because I do not speak German.
 
Right now I want to say; dance but dance for whom?
Of course in Turkey it is assumed that only young, beautiful bodies can dance. But we used dance therapy with people with Alzheimer's disease in Holland. Before that I had thought that only people over a certain age suffer from Alzheimer's. The person I worked with there was 30 years old. Yes, being a professional dancer is something else but movement and dance belong to everyone. For example if I had the power and authority, I would have a dance course in every school. I believe it is very important.
 
You are the first choreographer invited to Istanbul biennial this year. How does it feel?
Feels funny.  Actually not being invited before was itself a question mark. What was best in this was that contemporary art was limited to certain perspectives. I believe I reminded a couple of people there that dance is also a contemporary art form. But on the other hand, it was funny that the visitors of the biennia thought it was a separate, independent event. (Laughter)
 
Do you have a standard in your approach to art?
I do not have a standard because I want every one, everybody, location, instinct, thought and feeling to be out.
 
OK then as a choreographer...
As a choreographer I like to work people with high body awareness. But I do not have standards that are referenced in the capitalist system. Yaşar Kemal, the famous author once said, "You occupy space with your heart not with your body." I am somewhat inspired by these. For example I work with some people labelled as physically disabled by the society. Some of them have such a strong presence on stage that professionals with twenty years of experience cannot compete with them.  Existence, presence, self testing method and things that make it more artistic are the research in the process of choreography. So rather than doing standardised things which are already done before, I am willing to upset the standards.
 
What are the areas you feel most comfortable to take risks?
I take behavioural risks and I am quite comfortable at that.
 
I just realize that this interview will create significant body awareness in readers.
I hope so... Because understanding that the body is not there just to clothe, feed, for sexual pleasures will always make us richer. We live in this body and through this body. We need to look at its dynamics; as a whole whether you call it the soul, energy or character. Isn't it the question everyone asks? Who am I, where do I live?
 
Do you frequently ask yourself these questions and evaluate them?
Yes, I do sometimes.
 
Where do the signals coming from these days?
Very interesting. These days maintaining my personal policy also reflects the freedom of some people. Since all living things are connected, I believe my dancing can free someone who is trapped or hurt. I have such a feeling in me.  I actually have a more individual political approach to movement. I worked with female inmates in Bakırköy Prison. We had a body awareness and dance workshop which was the first time both for them and me. Some of these women were exposed to violence while the others took other people's lives.  And their bodies gave them happiness again. We even started reflexology and then moved to physiotherapy.
 
How long did it last?
Eight weeks. It was a voluntary project for me. All workshops were closed during Gezi Park protests. After that, we couldn't enter in again. Instead of giving up things, I have the urge to settle down more. I am studying modern history. I am writing a two-stage book with the title "Contemporary Dance in Turkey". I want it to be published around January. Maybe this is a desire to settle down. These days I am more in this mood. Restructuring bodies...
 
This interview has made me feel better, thank you.