Black Sea Adventure for Ovacik Dancers

The Ovacık ex-pat residents who have now turned their focus from traditional Turkish dance to songs were ‘on tour’ again last week, this time to the Black Sea region of Kastamonu.

They were invited (via Ölüdeniz Council) by TRT presenter Cevdet Canturk (who has worked with them before) and a local Kastamonu newspaper reporter and sport correspondent for TRT, Barıs Kılınçkıran.

They were accompanied by a contingent from Ölüdeniz Council which included the mayor, Keramettin Yılmaz, and were driven through the night to arrive mid-morning in the ski resort of Ilgaz in the south of Kastamonu province.

They were able to visit the ski slopes and would recommend the area to potential skiers.

On Tuesday they were interviewed and performed local songs for two live news broadcasts, and Cevdet, who interviewed them, coined the new title for the group, Ölüdenizli Yarenler.

Wednesday and Thursday were set aside for sight-seeing in the area and more information will follow in a later article.

Thursday also included a move to a different hotel in Kastamonu city centre. This impressive hotel was a converted 700 year old Han and the centre courtyard was the setting for their final appearance.

The audience here consisted of the great and the good of the area and a group of students from the university who were invited to join the Brits in a dance which accompanied their final song.

Friday began with more sightseeing before the long journey, Black Sea to White Sea (as the Mediterranean is known in Turkey) home to Ovacık,

As we said, we will be including more details on some of the places the group visited in this area including Turkey’s only hat museum and Safranbolu, a Unesco World Heritage village.