A warm welcome to our newest Visiting Scholar, Idris Ersan! We're excited to have you join us and look forward to the insights and expertise you'll bring to our community.
Summary of the research plan
The criticism that world dance history is Europe-centric and does not encompass the entire world has been expressed for the past 50 years. The same criticism resulted in the differentiation between choreology and ethnochoreology in dance research. Based on this awareness, the Ethnochoreohistory method was proposed for the historiography of dance outside the West in 2021, with the doctoral thesis titled "A Method Proposal For the Dance Historiography in Turkey: The Case of Georgian Dances.” The thesis in question was published as a book in Turkish with the title "Anatolia Georgian Dance History" in 2024. The ethnochoreohistory method updates past dance historiography approaches by incorporating the technological advances of today. A research proposal has been prepared to examine how the term ethnochoreohistory will function in shaping the dance history of different cultures and to conduct a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the term. Academic activities such as delivering conferences, publishing book translations, articles, organising round table discussions, conducting interviews, observations, and artistic works on Black Sea Kemençe and Turkish folk dances have been scheduled under the consultancy of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anurima Banerji, as part of this research.
Bio of Asst. Prof. İdris Ersan KÜÇÜK
I was born in 1984 in Trabzon. I attended Borçka Atatürk Primary School and Artvin Anatolian High School. Then I graduated from Ege University State Turkish Music Conservatory, Turkish Folk Dance Department in 2009, where I secured the audition with first place. After graduation, I worked as a temporary lecturer at Giresun State Conservatory's Turkish Folk Dance Department from 2011 to 2013. I conducted fieldwork in Giresun during this period. Subsequently, I completed the Turkish Folk Dance Master's Programme at Ege University Social Sciences Institute with my thesis titled "Ethnochoreological Evaluation of Giresun Region Folk Dances" in 2014. This thesis was published by Ege University Press as a book titled "Giresun Folk Dances". Also, I visited fieldworks in Turkey, Georgia, and Greece. Based on this research data, I published journal articles and symposium papers on Black Sea and Caucasian dances. I completed the "Advanced Ethnochoreology" postgraduate Erasmus course organised by the Norwegian Science and Technology University Music and Dance Department in 2012 and 2013. I participated in the rehearsal process of the 'Odyssée Musicale' project held in Paris, the capital of France, in 2014. I taught Turkish Folk Dances at Flame University and Mahindra College in Pune, India, where I was a TCF (Turkish Cultural Foundation) scholar in 2015. I provided Black Sea Kemençe and Horon lessons at the music camp organised by Atlas Music Academy in Bni Mtir, Tunisia, in 2015 and 2017. I received the French Embassy Scholarship in 2018. I conducted research on Georgian dances associated with the CETOBaC (Centre d'études Turques, Ottomanes, Balkaniques et Centrasiatiques) unit of L'EHESS (L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) in Paris during the first three months of 2019. I graduated from Ege University Social Sciences Institute with a Doctorate in Turkish History, submitting a thesis titled ‘A Proposal Of Method For The Dance Historiography In Turkey: The Case Study Of The Georgian Dances’. In this thesis, I proposed a dance historiography method called ‘ethnochoreohistory’. The method combines new media anthropology, historical particularism, Annales school historiography, and ethnomethodology. At the intersection of these disciplines, ethnochoreohistory offers a way to catalogue and narrate the history of dance. I shared these experiences at the dance department of Roehampton University, London as a visiting scholar in 2022. Additionally, I am a kemenche player. The kemenche is a key instrument in the dance horon of the Black Sea region. I am currently working as an Assistant Professor at Ege University Turkish Music State Conservatory, in the Turkish Folk Dance Department.