The Folk Dance Festival, which was held in cooperation with Bursa Metropolitan Municipality and Bursa Culture, Art and Tourism Foundation (BKSTV), was both a light to keep our traditional culture alive and a breath to the greening of burning forests.

The events held at the Kültürpark Open Air Theater started with a moment of silence for the martyrs and all living things we lost in the forest fires in recent days. Sponsored by Durmazlar Makine, Oyak Renault Automobile Factory, Matlı Holding and the Reference Group, the festival, which was held for the first time this year, attracted great attention for 3 days. The performances of the Yıldırım Municipality Music Academy Unhindered Life Team, who took the stage at the final night, received a standing ovation.

Turkey mosaic

Bursa Music Academy, Uludağ Mehter, Master's Kılıç Kalkan, Colors of Anatolia, Rumelians Folk Dances Youth Sports Association, İnegöl BAL-GÖÇ Association, İnegöl Municipality and Namık Kemal Folk Dance Association (NAKEM) teams fascinated the audience with their performances. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Alinur Aktaş, who made the closing speech of the feast where plays from all regions of Turkey were exhibited, said that they added a new one to their work with a folk dance feast in order to convey the traditional cultural values ​​that were pushed to the background with industrialization in our world, which is shrinking within the framework of developing communication opportunities, to the next generations. Expressing that they are trying to be a breath of fresh air with the support they give to local culture and art communities that are suffering from the pandemic, Aktaş underlined that folk dances will come to the fore again with this event within the framework of modern norms and science, and that they create a source archive that will leave a mark for future generations.

“We will make it traditional”

Drawing attention to the cultural richness of Bursa due to the fact that it is a city that receives immigrants from everywhere, Aktaş said, “We must bring this richness of Bursa to the light of day and convey it to future generations. Folk dances, which are a part of the land we live in but are on the verge of being forgotten, are also a part of this richness. We brought together folk dance ensembles in Bursa in order to keep this cultural richness alive in a way that future generations will own. Hopefully, we will make this event a tradition," he said.

“The feast was a breath of the future”

BKSTV Chairman of the Board Özer Matlı thanked the Mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality, Alinur Aktaş, who contributed to the organization of the event. Matlı stated that they transformed the fact that the folk dance festival coincided with the forest fires that shook our country and burned our hearts, into support for the 'Breath to the Future' campaign, and said, "We brought together all the folk dance ensembles in our city with this event, which we have designed to bring the cultural richness of Bursa to light and convey it to future generations. This meeting, which has been missed for years, will be a breath of both folk dances and the greening of our forests. All the income of the event will be donated to the campaign of the TR Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry called Breathing for the Future.” Matlı thanked Pınar Başaran on behalf of Aldante Dining at the Open Air Theatre, for donating the proceeds of the event to the breathing for the future campaign, as well as the citizens who participated in the feast and breathed into the future.

Chairman Aktaş presented the plaques to the teams with Burcu Büyükburç on behalf of the sponsor Reference Group, together with BKSTV Chairman Özer Matlı.