Yıldız Alpar 58 years in the service of both dance and country

58 years in ballet education: As our newspaper went to press, her 4-year-old to 20-year-old students were about to perform classical ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, rhythmic gymnastics and flamenco routines as part of the celebratory recital I mentioned above. The students worked with their teachers Oya Barbara Karanis and Aylin Kalem İşcen, of course supervised by Yıldız Alpar, with choreography by Aysun Aslan, a well-known choreographer at the State Ballet, Seda Altuğ, a teaching member of the State Conservatory, Arzu Karamani and Nur Niyaz Bildik.

Born into an artistic family: Yıldız Hanım was born into an artist’s family -- her father is a painter. She told me that during her childhood and because of the war the curtains in the family home often had to be closed. As a result, listening to classical music on an old gramophone became one of her favorite pastimes.

Keen on learning how to dance, her parents enrolled her at the İstanbul State Conservatory but the young Yıldız initially had to settle for piano lessons, which pleased her parents as her father was not too happy about having a future ballerina as part of his family -- learning to play the piano was, however, acceptable. Yıldız Hanım finally began her ballet training in 1943 but continued to take private piano lessons simultaneously with ballet classes for another five years.

İstanbul to Paris and back: why? She benefited from various generations of ballet instructors and specifically mentioned Lydia Krassa Arzumanova, her conservatory teacher here in İstanbul who became instrumental in convincing her to go to Paris. In France, Yıldiz Hanım studied ballet on a scholarship. I asked why she decided to come back to Turkey as, in her own words, in those days in the early 1950s basically every street in Paris had at least one dance or ballet studio. She told me that while it would have been possible to successfully work as an instructor over there and many establishments would have been only too happy to engage her, she thought that helping to establish Turkey’s ballet culture was her true calling.

Back home from France, Yıldız opened her first ballet school in 1952. Today we celebrate her school’s 58th anniversary as well as her personal success story both as an entrepreneur and as a diva of dance, ballet and choreography. After relocating from another part of town in 1964, today’s premises are in the same Kadıköy building the school has occupied ever since -- Yıldız told me that this is basically her home and that she has climbed the same flight of stairs for almost 50 years.

Ballet in today’s Turkey -- huge potential: We spoke about ballet in present-day Turkey and the great potential it has -- many of her graduates have become professional teachers themselves or ballerinas on many stages. Actually, most of today’s ballet professionals in Turkey have at some time in their careers passed through the very same Kadıköy doors.

Her school is accredited by Turkey’s Ministry of Education and all graduates receive a diploma approved by the ministry.

Ballet: for girls only? I asked her why there were no boys enrolled in her school and she said that she is not too keen on accepting them into her classes as even in today’s modern Turkey some girls would not take the boys seriously and outside the school environment all girls and boys would tease the boys who study ballet. However, she supports boys in the profession, of course, and suggests they would be better placed in a conservatory.

Civil society projects: Every year her school admits 100 children to attend free of charge as part of her remarkable philanthropic involvement. A project that had originally been accepted for İstanbul as a European Capital of Culture (ECOC) program for 2010 unfortunately did not materialize; Yıldız Hanım said, “The communication channels were apparently not working well.” The proposal was based on her “Children of my country” project, which offers ballet education for 100 children aged 5-12 from economically disadvantaged families residing in Kadıköy each year.

A personal thank you, from İstanbul to London: Yıldız Hanım expressed her gratitude and thanks to the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Not only has she received the academy’s rare President’s Award, in 1992 she became Turkey’s first-ever honorary member. That same year her school was selected as one of the top five ballet schools in the world by the same body, referred to by many as one of the world’s leading ballet institutions.

Every year Royal Academy of Dance exams are administered in all four corners of the globe by associated ballet schools, including Yıldız’s own establishment. Her school has been a member of the Royal Academy of Dance since 1970 and organizes exams by inviting Royal Academy examiners to İstanbul. In addition to the exams, students and teachers occasionally participate in seminars and summer courses in London.

Past, present and what comes next? We spoke about what she would refer to as the most memorable event her school has staged during her career and, modest as she is, she first answered by saying, “None so far have stood out from another, all were rather special and only the future will decide which one was the best.” On second thought, however, she said that I could mention that in 2000, 35 of her aspiring future ballerinas had the chance to be on stage with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in the US.

If the day ever comes when perhaps more leisurely pursuits will keep her busy, Yıldız Hanım hinted that her two friends and colleagues Karanis and İşcen would take over, guaranteeing her legacy. It seems that in today’s economically advanced Turkey, even its ballet divas have embraced modern management strategies -- talking about succession planning.