Independent Venues

There are very few independent venues for dance performances. The one that was most recently established is Garajistanbul (http://www.garajistanbul.org/). They regularly program contemporary dance. They also produced some contemporary dance works. The venue Kumbaracı 50, which was founded by a theatre company called Altıdan Sonra Tiyatro / Theater After Six, may serve for dance performances even though the space is quite small (www.kumbaraci50.com). GalataPerform has been active since 2003 and is located on the second floor of an old apartment in one of the historical districts of Istanbul. Consisting of an informal café and a performing studio, it is the production space and main stage of the VeDST Theater Company and has been open to artists and audiences of different disciplines (www.galataperform.com).

The studio of the Barefeet Company is also used as a performance space (www.ciplakayaklar.com). The Movement Atelier Company has a studio space in one of the oldest buildings in Beyoglu, on Istiklal Street, at the Rumeli Han. They occasionally use it as a performance space for their productions and for audience invited rehearsal space for others (www.hareketatolyesi.blogspot.com). The Aksanat dance studio of Akbank, which is the dance studio of the Zeynep Tanbay Dance Company/ ZTDC can also be used for some studio performances (www.akbanksanat.com). Oyun Atolyesi is on the Anatolian side in Kadıkoy, Moda. It is a private theatre venue that from time to time opens its stage to contemporary dance (www.oyunatolyesi.com). There is a new venue called Talimhane Stage in Dolapdere, Taksim. It is actually a theatre company founded by Mehmet Ergen. After establishing the space, several dance performances were staged but the venue is closed due to some bureaucratic problems and it is waiting to be re-opened (www.talimhanetiyatrosu.com).

In many of the larger cities there are studio spaces for Latin dances, tango, flamenco, sirtaki and break dance which are also used as performance venues (more info at www.danskurslari.org).