Nobody really knows where the dance came from, or why it's become so popular in the last few years, but I don't think that really matters. Unlike Tecktonik, for example, which grew out of a pseudo-youth-rebellion movement in Paris, Kolbastı is a family dance. At the festival I went to a few weeks ago, it amazed me how many different types of people knew the moves. Even my host mother enjoys it, and readily dances alongside her daughters whenever given the chance.
After dinner this evening, some of my program friends and I tried the dance for the first time under the direction of my host sister and her best friend Ceren. The two of them have tried to get me to dance Kolbastı before, but it was usually in public. And of course I try to avoid completely outing myself as a foreigner as much as possible. In any case, I was ready for the challenge tonight, and began to hop and jump around the room to the music as soon as Ceren showed me the way. I was able to do a few of the steps with only mild awkwardness, and I think I'll be ready to perform them (as long as I'm not alone) at the TAA student "talent show" next month. After dancing until the point of exhaustion, we drank tea on the balcony and went for a short walk around the neighborhood. As we were walking back to the house, Ceren took out her cell phone to play the music and we danced down the street together. She and my host sister have a whole routine choreographed, and I'm still working on the easiest of the steps. It was a good way to burn off some of my senior week/Turkish food pounds though, and I've had the Kolbastı song stuck in my head since then.
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