Interview by Istanbul freelance writer, Guler Yuksel: An evening with Rosetta
Guler: What prompted you to do something in Turkey? Here, what difficulty did you have?
Nebahat: I was inspired to create the show 'an evening with Rosetta & friends' whilst living in Istanbul. I came to observe the fixed defined gender roles between men and women, in public streets, private homes and within relationships, which seemed to be on the premise on the prescribed notions of masculinity and femininity, concepts that are reinforced by the family, religion and state. I felt the need to create a woman, who was on the contrary irreconcilable, paradoxical and the antithesis of Turkish patriarchal society. So Rosetta was born from these irrevocable contradictions inherent in gender politics and although she was inspired by my experiences in living in Turkish society, she is universal in her appeal.
Guler: Why did you choose the art form of neo-cabaret?
Nebahat: I chose to use neo-Cabaret for two reasons. One it is an art form that has no or very little performance history here in Istanbul and secondly because I wanted to use a traditional form of storytelling that was political, intimate, engaging and entertaining all at the same time. This at times can be difficult to achieve alone with dance movement and I wanted to strip the show down to more raw and personal way of relating.
Guler: In the performance, who is your main character?
Nebahat: Rosetta is more of a figure, an archetype as well as a fictional persona. Rosetta is a woman whose mother is Ukrainian & father is Jewish Turk. She's in her mid 40s, has 3 children out of wedlock (never been married), and is a manic-depressive, an alcoholic, a rape survivor, drug user and a dancer in a seedy Disco. In spite of her life's brutal demise she is working a job like everyone else to live. So infect she is a hero in her own story, a symbol for strength.
Guler: The foreground for the performance, is a pavilion or nightclub not very glamorous or appealing. What were your aims?
Nebahat: The show is not intended to be a musical where you see polished mannequins dancing and singing on stage in perfect sequences. I'm not a fan of conventional entertainment. I'm interested in the way the other half exist in society, women such as Rosetta who have had to deal with odds to survive. I also intentionally chose dance as her profession because this challenges the notion of women on stage viewed by the canon 'male gaze' as commodities. It's a double edge sword where society dictates through fashion, film, literature & the music industry, where women are objects of desire, as long as they are cloned to look the same. When a woman doesn't fit this socio-cultural idiosyncratic ideal, than she may be perceived and judged to be morally dangerous to society.
Guler: Aspects of the performance were provocative, especially disturbing to a Turkish male audience, was this your intention?
Nebahat: My aim with this work was to show a woman who exists everywhere from Istanbul to Tokyo. So if people or men in the audiences where challenged in some fashion, than this is great, it means they have now a different perspective. I'm not concerned with analysing the audience’s responses but with the level of intensity they felt or didn't feel and what emotions were evoked is what interests me.
Guler: In your works you explore issues of being a woman?
Nebahat: I work with themes that most affect me as a person not just a woman, such as our relationship to the environment, land and world in general are subjects of contemplation and concern. But living in a patriarchal regime such as Turkey, I am reminded of gender inequality on a daily basis and forced to question this as a woman, an artist and a human being.
Guler: Does this lead to misunderstandings in art?
Nebahat: Sexuality and Art have historically had a rather contentious relationship; women as muses for visual arts, photography, film, literature and dance so on. So what I'm doing is not new in that I'm questioning our beliefs about women as the 'other', as there have been in the past 40 years a progression in art to include feminism & feminist psychoanalyst theory, thanks to Sherman, Lacy and so on.
Guler: Goldberg "her own thing that defines their process performance," he says. How do you define your own performance making process?
Nebahat: I agree. With every new work a dancer or artist gives birth to new set of challenges, beliefs, and aesthetics. Limited money, production costs, studio space, and questioning one's own moral & ethical ground isn't always pleasant but are necessary for an artist, if you are to grow as a person and in order for the work to develop and mature. For me it is the 'process' and not the end performance alone that is key to my understanding myself and my relationship to others that sets the pace for creating.
Read more about the work
An Evening With Rosetta
A dark-neo Cabaret dance work inspired by Nebahat’s experience living and working as an artist in Istanbul.
