The 2005 Memorial Day Weekend Mid-Eastern Music and Dance Camp:
A Long Weekend of Renewal
By Alay’nya

There are times when we each need to connect with our souls. We need to step out of our day-to-day lives; step away from our cell phones and TVs and Blackberries; away from our corporate commitments and our daily "to do" lists, and find out once again who we really are.
We need more than just a vacation, although we do need to get away. We need more than a massage, or a little spa time although we do need to be refreshed at a very deep level. What we really need is to connect with our source. We need, literally, to "re-create" ourselves. And we do this by connecting with what it means to be truly and authentically human.

As humans, we re-create ourselves through the act of creating. We create art, music, and dance. And as humans, we do this not just in isolation, but within community - with people who share in our creative experiences.
As dancers and musicians, we meet our needs for community, for learning, and for creative expression in haflas, workshops, and other community events. These are wonderful; they help sustain. But they don't get us as fully back to our core human nature as we really need because what we really need is to get away. We need to be away from the distractions of industrial society while we dip ourselves into true, core, authentic human experience.

This is what we get at the Folk Tours Music and Dance Camp sponsored yearly by Elizabeth Artemis Mourat and Tayyar Akdeniz. Held each Memorial Day Weekend at a campground in the mountains of Pennsylvania, this is an opportunity to refresh mind, spirit, and body, and to have glorious good fun. The 2006 camp will be from Friday, May 26th to Monday, May 29th.
Artemis and Tayyar's Pennsylvania camp offers many benefits, including world-class instruction, small group intimacy, and live music all within a travel time, distance, and money budget accessible for people near the Eastern seaboard.

Special moments stand out in my mind. One is Karim's leading us down to the bonfire for late-evening music and dance. He jumped onto the stones circling the bonfire's rim, beating his huge drum, and beckoning the entire camp to join him. People such as Karim get a party started! During a performance one evening, we had an unusual and wonderful presentation of dramatic storytelling, with musical background and open choreographed gestures - storytelling as a human art form. It warmed my soul. And in the early morning, with the sun newly warm and the grass still dewy fresh, stalwart yoga devotees would be unwinding in a graceful series of wake-up poses, while others craving their first cup of coffee would head straight towards the dining hall.

Speaking of which, the food was satisfactory and plentiful. Breakfasts and lunches were standard fare, but always included fresh fruits for breakfast and leafy greens at lunch. (There were also plentiful desserts.) Dinners were a bit more special, and catered in by a company specializing in Mid-Eastern menus. Both vegetarian and meat-eaters were given delicious options, along with more desserts! Then there was soup, cookies, and crackers, along with round-the-clock tea and other drinks, to keep late-night party animals well fed, no matter how long they stayed up.
Last year's location was beautiful and comfortable but this year will be a new and more expansive campsite location just north west of Philadelphia. As always, some people who know each other in advance may make plans to share cabins; others will find cabin sharing a good way to make new friends.

Where Artemis and Tayyar excelled was in bringing together an exceptional group of teachers, both for music and dance. This included bringing in last-minute substitutes of exemplary quality when two of the seven advertised teachers made last-minute regrets due to serious illness. Only Artemis's high standing in the dance community allowed her to draw on such a high caliber of teachers (including substitutes) and creating such an intriguing and delightful daily offering of classes.

As my interests were in dance, I was especially happy to take classes from Artemis and Eva Cernik, who each communicate a beautiful and organic approach to improvisational dance. Nursel Mojka, who is a Romany woman from Macedonia taught fascinating authentic Roma dance. Jajouka, Samara and Fleur did a wonderful job of filling in for Shareen El Safy and Kajira Djoumahna. It was impossible to take all of the dance classes but people come back every year asking for the charismatic teaching of Tayyar and Karim.

There were nightly dance parties and our famous musicians were highly skilled in Arabic, Turkish and Armenian genres. Tamer Pinarbasi, Hamit Golbasi, Seido Salifoski, Ara Dinkjian, Sonar Cicek, Umut Yasmut, Karim Nagi, Ali Kahya, Souren Baronian, Brad Sidwell, Haig Manoukian, Maurice Chedid, Amir Naoum Chehade and Tayyar Akdeniz are all well known as recording and performing artists.

This year's camp promises the same delightful mixture, ranging from classical Egyptian cabaret and folkloric dance (taught by Sahra Saeeda and Mohamed Shahin), American Tribal Style (Kajira Djoumahna), Arabic and Turkish folk dance (with Karim Nagi, Ibrahim Tunc and Tayyar respectively), Turkish Oriental and Romany (Gypsy) dance (Artemis Mourat), along with yogic instruction from (Ede Thurrell). There is comparable quality and value in the lineup of music teachers. (Visit http://www.folktours.com/teachusa.html for teacher lists and short bios.) And as always, Artemis and Tayyar will be leading our community in this four-year old, but now well-established, Memorial Day Weekend Music and Dance Camp tradition. They also have a yearly Music and Dance Festival in Turkey which is rich with opportunity to share Turkish culture while learning music and dance from world class teachers.

Those of us who have been to this US camp before are planning to be back, bringing our students and friends. We look forward to seeing you there, this year and in years to come!
Alay’nya can be reached at alaynya@alaynya.com, or via mail at P.O. Drawer L, McLean, VA 22101