Youth Dance & Street Dance

The first appearance of break dance in Turkey can be traced back to Istanbul in the early 1990s. A young migrated population from Germany set up Istanbul City Breakers which gave way to various other groups like Loards of Istanbul in the Bakırköy district, or Takım 34 and Istanbul Street-B Boys in the Kadıköy district. These were followed by groups in other cities, such as the Young Energy B-Boys in Izmir, Devil Dogs in Ankara, and Bursa City B-Boys in Bursa. In 1998 one of the biggest parties of the ‘90s was organized by Takım 34 and S2K, called The Apocalypse Day. Almost 1500 local people joined the party and various foreign b-boys and graffiti artists came. Kadıköy was the main district for various parties at that time. The youth journal Blue Jean contributed a lot to the popularity of the Turkish break dance scene.

Among hundreds of break dance groups, the most popular ones are Takım 34, Young Energy B-Boys, Lord Of İstanbul, Devil Dogs, Bursa Sky-B Crew, Dream Night Breakers, İnfaz Apache B-Boys, Bağcılar B-Boys, Breakkers Famılly, C4 Crew, Deprem, Kayseri B-Boys, İstanbul Street B-Boys, L.O.İ., Pendik B-Boys, Poison Of Spider B-Boys, Samsun Stars Breakers, and Trabzon Free Young.

Again they face the problem that there is no support from the private sector or state institutions. Another problem is that it is impossible to find rehearsal spaces, and therefore many groups practice on the streets. In addition, society’s regard for street dance has not improved much, and as a result the youth feels alienated in public spheres. There still is not much recognition and appreciation for this kind of art.

For more detailed info: www.breakdans.net and on facebook (www.facebook.com): hip hop and break dance fan club (contact person: mert_diyar@hotmail.com),