 This semester, Argentine tango and Latin dance classes are being taught once
again at Bilkent. Currently, around 60 students are attending. Barbaros Tansel, who is
also a professor and the chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Bilkent,
is teaching the classes.
The multi-talented Tansel
has over thirty years of experience as a performer and dance teacher. During his 15-year
stay in the U.S. from 1975 to 1991, while pursuing an academic career in industrial
engineering as a leading researcher in the field of network location theory, he also
became intensely involved in dance as a recreational activity. He has learned close to 800
dances from around the world and performed many of them on stage.
Tansel came to Bilkent
University in 1991 as a faculty member in Industrial Engineering and started teaching
dance classes as a service to the Bilkent community. Over time, he became one of
Turkey’s best-known instructors at the advanced level and founded the Tandans Dance
Studio in 1999. Since last April, he has been the president of the Dance Federation of
Turkey, which is one of the four branches in the Gymnastics Federation of Turkey.
.jpg) Speaking
about tango and Latin dances, Tansel said, “Dance is a profound language in which two
people can communicate with each other without words, in time with the flow of the music,
through touch, embrace, rhythm and motion. It is a state of trance, deeply felt and
intensely moving at times, especially when the music is captivating.”
The Bilkent dance classes
meet every Friday from 6:40-7:40 p.m. (Argentine Tango) and 7:40-8:40 p.m. (Latin Dance).
Instruction is clear, lively and easy to follow, and participants have the opportunity to
enjoy learning Argentine Tango as well as a variety of Latin dances (salsa, rumba,
cha-cha, swing). Those who would like to attend may contact the Student Dormitories Sports
Hall. The fee is 60 YTL per person for the entire series of classes.
Pınar Kefeli (COMD/III)
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