World-renowned Turkish dance troupe Anadolu Ateşi (Fire of Anatolia) made a stop at Bursa’s Merinos Atatürk Congress Center on Saturday, January 23. Fresh off their 2015 world tour and gearing up for their spring tour in Holland, Fire of Anatolia has been making a few stops in Turkey to celebrate their 15th anniversary of bringing Anatolian history and culture to the world.

Since their debut in 2001, Fire of Anatolia has performed for more than 35 million people in Turkey and abroad. The company aims to interpret Anatolia’s mythological and cultural history by combining regional folk dance with modern dance and ballet. Their goal is to present to the world the diverse peoples and rich history of Anatolia.

The 120-member strong Fire of Anatolia is regarded as one of the world’s premier dance companies. They hold Guinness records for the largest audience (400,000 attendees) and for the fastest dance (241 steps per minute). They’ve toured more than 50 countries and were the first dance company to ever perform in China’s parliament building.  

At their recent show at Merinos Center, my wife and I were, to say the least, quite impressed. The performers’ ability to dance with such skill, precision, emotion, and energy was captivating. But we weren’t only impressed by their dancing skills; the movements, costumes, choreography, music, colors, and theatrical elements all meshed together to paint a flowing and stirring picture of Anatolian history and culture.

If you ever have the opportunity to see Fire of Anatolia perform, we’d highly recommend it. We’re glad they made a stop in Bursa.