Culture & Heritage
Folk dances
Govend, Çepike, Şêxanî — circles that keep time.
Semah (Alevi Ritual Dance)
Semah is no entertainment dance but an act of worship. It is performed in the cem — the Alevi prayer house — at the heart of the zikr rite. Men and women turn t...
Çepike (Çobî)
Çepike — sometimes Çobî — is a seasonal Kurdish dance performed above all in spring, famous in the Kurmanji areas: Afrîn, Kobanê, Cizîrê, and parts of northwest...
Halay
Halay is the iconic dance of northern Kurdistan — Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa, and the wider Kurdish southeast of Turkey. It is performed in a long line, dancers l...
Şêxanî
Şêxanî is a fast-tempo dance famous in the Behdînan region of Iraqi Kurdistan — Erbil and Duhok. It is performed in a tight circle, dancers gripping each other'...
Govend
Govend is the mother of Kurdish dances, the form around which every other dance orbits. It is performed collectively in a long open circle, dancers holding each...