Suddenly, a dancer

We began our day playing in another psychiatric hospital. One of the doctors also plays saz (a lute-like instrument with a long neck), so we tried to improvise as he played. We performed outdoors, beneath leafy trees on a perfect day. Though some attempt was made to get the patients to listen quietly to the three of us playing our Western classical music, once the saz-playing doctor began popular tunes, the patients immediately got up to dance.

And such dancing! One middle-aged woman, clad in second-hand clothes and clearly somewhat disturbed, instantly rose out of her seat as the saz sounded and our violin, viola, and cello wove a background. This woman shook her arms and held her head proudly in steps remembered from her youth. Suddenly, she was beautiful.

We proceeded to the Bosphorus-Atlantic Association of Cultural Cooperation and Friendship, where we rehearsed for many hours with Mehmet Kaya and his group from the Dünya Renkleri Korosu in preparation our concert in Balikesir a week from today.