A MIM CHI 360 Interactive Workshop, which brought together and connected diplomats, academics, artists, business professionals, and students, was held at the Next Pera Art Gallery.
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu, the founder of the MIM CHI 360 Drama Dance Theater, is a theater instructor, PADI certified diver, licensed athlete by the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports, swimming instructor, Federation Level 2 fitness coach, as well as an accredited athlete and student coach, and a mind games trainer. She is also an economist, world traveler, and a versatile artist (painting, poetry, dance, theater, drama). Yorgancıoğlu continues her MIM CHI 360 work through eclectic personal development programs in different countries around the world. Believing in the inclusivity of multiculturalism, Yorgancıoğlu maintains dialogues with tribes from the countries she visited on her world tour across five continents (e.g., Maori, Masai, Kikuyu, Zulu). She shares her cognitive behavioral structured, thematic well-being work, enriched with the insights and inspirations gained from these dialogues and the rituals she participated in, with the community through interactive workshops, emphasizing a fit mind and agile body approach. A significant part of her work is focused on social responsibility projects with a commitment to adding value to the society she is part of.
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu also possesses expertise in Contract Management in sectors such as Occupational Health, Forensic Psychology, Information Technology, and Energy, with skills in Forensic Expertise, Internal (Supplier) Auditing, Risk Expertise, Professional Management Consultancy, International Event Organization, and TV Radio project-based program production. She graduated from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences at Boğaziçi University in Business Administration and Economics and continues her third university education in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul University after more than a quarter of a century. She has represented Turkey in academic, cultural, and artistic fields in various continents and regions.
Painter Adalet Kara and Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu also shared a tango dance in the style of Mim CHI 360.
On the occasion of her 57th birthday, Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu spent a day at the Next Pera Art Gallery sharing MIM CHI 360 Interactive Cognitive Behavioral Movement Patterns for a Well-Lived Life, as well as ethnic improvisational figurative dance forms and walks with the participants. In the second part of her structured improvisational work, she focused on the interpretive bodily expressions of the paintings by Azerbaijani artist Adalet Kara, whose works were displayed at the gallery due to the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey and the 105th Anniversary of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Kara, a member of the UNESCO International Association of Artists, received a master’s education in oil painting, ceramics, and sculpture for 3 years at the Kiev Academy and 5 years at the Lviv Academy. She also worked in the studios of painters like Picasso and Matisse and took lessons from the famous painter I.F. Monastrsky at the Lviv Academy.
57th Birthday and MIM CHI 360 in Three Dimensional Euclidean Space on Canvas
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu, in addition to her authentic contemporary improvisational choreography dances, presented examples of the contextual fluidity of swing, tango, and rumba dances with tribal dances through the MIM CHI 360 interpretation.
Adalet Kara, with Yorgancıoğlu’s expression of her painting “Mobius Strips,” adapted to dance forms, and together they interpreted a MIM CHI 360 contemporary authentic improvisational style tango dance during the event.
Topics Covered and Application Areas in the MIM CHI 360 Workshop Presented by Yorgancıoğlu During the Event:
- Breathing
- Warming up
- Basic movements to the right and left
- Changing places from left to right, right to left
- Lower body and upper body coordination
- Weight transfer
- Sliding movements
- Swing
- Posture
- Naturalness
- Aesthetics
- “Somatic Movement”
- Slowing down
- Speeding up
- Walking
- Weight change
- Coordination
- Contraction
- Expansion
- Shrinking
- Growing
- Decreasing
- Reduction
- Differentiation
- Matching
- Weight change
- Harmony
- Following
- Flow
- Coordination
Some of the Experience Gains Briefly:
Conscious relaxation, focus, stress and anger control, cognitive awareness, self-confidence, creativity, inclusive leadership, awareness of safe and risky behaviors, discovering the universe-body-mind and energy flow, MIM CHI 360 journey of a fit mind and agile body, change management, behavior-focused safety, adaptability, survival skills, awareness.
Examples from Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu’s Drama, Dance, and Theatrical Dance Career and International Representation of Turkey
Short-Term School Activities
- Ballet: Şişli Terakki High School Primary
- Folklore: Şişli Terakki High School Primary
- School Choir and Solo Performance: Şişli Terakki High School Primary Graduation Ceremony
University Period
- Modern Dance: Boğaziçi University, Instructor: Zeynep Günsur
- Theater: 1985, Boğaziçi University Theater Club (BÜO)
International Performances
- 1994: United Kingdom, Porto Bello – Solo & Contact Improvisation Dance
- 1998: Budapest, Vaci Utca, MIM CHI 360 Street Dances – Kurt Cobain Breezes
- 2000: Holland, Dam Square, MIM CHI 360 Street Dance
- 2002: Madrid, Plaza Mayor – Silence
- 2004: Athens, Sirtaki MIM CHI style fusion – Greek Mythology PROMETHEUS BAKUS AND FIRE
- 2005: August, Opera Style MIM CHI drama dance theatre, Wien Austria
- 2009: India, Bombay – Indian Katak Dance Style MIM CHI 360
- 2008: Bahamas, Caribbean Salsabelly Style Mermaid Dance – Junkanoo Practices with MIM CHI 360
- 2006: Dubai, UAE, MIM CHI 360 Indian Dance Style
- 2009: Qatar, October, Doha After Performance Indian Style MIM CHI – Turkish Belly Fusion – Broadcasted on Al Jazeera TV, Hindi Jai Channel, Qatar Tribunes
- 2018: April, Tokyo, Japan, MIM CHI 360 Sakura Dance – Kendo Style – Kabuki Style
- 2018: December, China, Guangzhou, War Dances – Broadcasted live on TV
Representations of Turkey
- 1997: New York, Central Park, Sirtaki Style MIM CHI Dance, Coloured Pants
- 2003: Maori Tribes, New Zealand, Rotorua – MIM CHI Haka Dance MIM CHI fusion – “haka shaka”
- 2008: Masai Mara Tribes – Kikuyu Tribes Dance, Kenya (Last Session: Hakuna Matata MIM CHI 360)
- 2005: Antakya – Zaman Güneşi – Theatrical Poetics (sponsored by Akşam Gazetesi SkyTurkTV)
- 2005-2006: Cezayir Restaurant-Cafe 8, French Street – MIM CHI 360 Theatrical
- 2007: September, New York, Les Paul Concert – After Party MIM CHI 360 Physical Shape Style to Olivia Newton John (meeting with Les Paul and Olivia Newton John)
- 2008: Art Theatre Dance Performance leader for activities for kids in TEKMAN ERZURUM by TURKCELL
Other Performances
- Tango Therapy Platform: Founder, 2020
- Ci Tango Talks: Originator – Anchorwoman
- Tango Event Organizer: Fair Tango Event Curator, ICC Lütfi Kırdar Istanbul, March 2020 (4 days)
- Lions Club Guest: Tango Social Dance Performance with a social dance partner, 2023
- Historical Husrev Kethuda Hamam: MIM CHI 360 Victory Dances – Opening Cocktail Dance, September 2023
- Büyükada Adalar Cultural Association: MIM CHI 360 Authentic Improvisation Solo Contact Enigma Dance, September 2023
- Next Pera: Introduction to Theatrical Improvisation Tribal Dances
- Lions Club Guest: Tango Social Dance Performance with a social dance partner, 2023
- MimChi – Ballroom Dances: Paso Doble-Kanto Hybrid – Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu and Seval Ugur Mutlu, March 2024
- Bahariye Middle School: May 19, 2024, Intensive 6 + 1 week program preparing 5th grade students for a drama dance event and May 19 performance
- Sloth Caffee: July 2024, Cadde 24 Residence from Tribal Dance to Tango
Highlights from Artist Adalet Kara’s Artistic Works and Exhibitions
After graduating from Baku Fine Arts Faculty, the artist received 3 years of education in oil painting, ceramics, and sculpture at the Kiev Academy, followed by 5 years at the Lviv Academy. Kara has worked in studios of painters such as Picasso and Matisse, and studied under I.F. Monastrsky at Lviv Academy. Holding her first solo exhibition in 1988 in the city of Hosta, Russia, Kara was recognized in 1995 at the “World’s Top 200 Painters Exhibition” in Stockholm, Sweden. A member of the UNESCO International Association of Artists, Kara has exhibited in various countries, and her works are housed in museums and private collections in Germany, Sweden, Spain, the USA, Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, France, Italy, Brazil, England, the Netherlands, and Austria. Since 1998, Kara has been active in her private studio in Istanbul.
Exhibitions
- 1991: Seoul, South Korea
- 1994: Central House of Artists, Moscow, “100 Painting Exhibition”
- 1995: Painting Symposium, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1995: Magma Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1995: “World’s Top 200 Painters” Group Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1996: Gallery Art, Moscow, Russia
- 1996: Nantes, France
- 1997: Group Painting Exhibition of South Korean and Turkish Artists
- 1997: Tüyap Art Fair, Istanbul
- 1998: Barometre Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 1999: Ariyel Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2001: Pera Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2002: Emar Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2003: Alkent Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2004: Alkent Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2005: Nefertiti Art Gallery, Ankara
- 2006: Tüyap Art Fair, Istanbul
- 2007: Çatı Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2008: Çatı Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2008: Hagia Sophia Museum, Istanbul
- 2009: Beşiktaş Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2009: Deniz Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2010: Akatlar Cultural Center, Istanbul
- 2011: İÇ Art Gallery, Ankara
- 2011: Vakıfbank Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2012: Ortaköy Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2013: Vakıfbank Art Gallery, Istanbul
- 2015: Vakıfbank Art Gallery, Istanbul
