

SAR
Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası
SATURDAY 22 MARCH 2025 19.00 AT ATALANTE – TICKETS HERE
You chose your seedling, decided on a good place for it, prepared its soil, watered it for the first time, turned your back and walked away, days passed, perhaps weeks, the rains came, and then snow, winds blew, every now and then you came and checked, it had grown to your height, it had held up well, its roots could sink as deep as eternity, then came spring and then came summer, the sun rose, the moon set, Venus came up, you were already dead, who knows where your
grandchildren woke up, some had departed, those who arrived had departed from other places, it didn’t work out, some things went wrong, the tree grew, there used to be one house in the distance, then there were three, then five, then five hundred, murders took place in its shade, and of course, some kissed, too, some never realized it stood there, and some gave it water.
Then they chopped it down.
And thank goodness for that because the pavement needed widening.
This performance was constructed upon a misunderstanding of the world, humanity, mountains, the earth and the sky. It has absolutely nothing to do with the tree mentioned above. The performance is interested in knowing where the grandchildren wake up.
Concept Development and Performance: Mihran Tomasyan - Saro Usta
Lighting Design: Cem Yılmazer, Yasin Gültepe, Utku Kara
Lighting: Utku Kara
Sound Technician: Berkant 'Doktor' Kılıçkap
Teaser: Muhtar Pattabanoğlu
Photo: Engin İriz, Mustafa Erdoğan
Poster Design: Alican Tezer
A dream country, Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası was founded in 2003, in Istanbul’s vibrant neighborhood Beyoğlu, made up mostly of dancers with contemporary backgrounds. Since its founding, they have valued production through sharing and have achieved forming their own language. Over time, this production expanded through forms of body, movement, shows and workshops, earning the Company not only its own audience but also help enlist new amateur and professional dancers into the field.
Mihran Tomasyan started dancing with folkloric dances. During his high school years at Getronagan School, his interest in performing arts was triggered upon watching “Kim O?”(Who’s That) by KUM,PAN,YA. He continued Modern Dance Department at Mimar Sinan Universtiy (1997-2001) and then went to Angers, France to study at Centre National de Dance Contemporain (2001-2002). In 1999, he performed with Rebecca Lazier in the USA and Canada. In 2000, he worked with Yard Dance Group at Martha’s Vineyard Island and in the same year, he performed at New York Downtown Festival with the works they developed in the Island choreographed by Edissa Weeks.
Between 2002 and 2007, he worked as a dancer at Cie Cre-Ange in Paris. He performed in various shows such as Go baby go, I wanna be your dog, Man and Ray, Favorite Things, Embreasse- nous, L’encontre, and Piece a Conviction. Besides these works, he continued performing for internationally acclaimed companies and choreographers such as As Palavras in Belgium, Sasha Waltz in Germany, Da Motus in Switzerland, Association YMA in France and Aydin Teker and Tugce Tuna in Turkey.
He choreographed Mehmet Barış’ı Seviyor (Mehmet Loves Peace, 2005) at Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası which he co-founded in 2003. With this show, the company performed countless times and acquired a strong ground within Turkey’s contemporary dance scene. In 2007, the company opened up their own studio venue at the heart of Istanbul and Mihran has focused his energy to produce works under Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası. He created pieces performed
several times like Ters Okyanus, Sen Balık Değilsin Ki, Hayat Ağacı, Gomidas’la Yolculuk, Tüh, Her An Her Şey
Olabilir, and Sar”. Since 2012, with his colleague Duygu Güngör, he has been hosting a radio program titled Dance with Çıplak Ayaklar at an independent station called Açık Radyo. Based in Istanbul, Mihran continues to work as a dancer,
instructor, studio manager, choreographer and producer.
Saro Usta, after graduating from the Private Getronagan Armenian High School, completed his education by graduating from Istanbul University, Department of French Language and Literature. He discovered his interest in music, especially Armenian music, in the backstage of the Sayat Nova Choir, in which he was born and raised since his childhood years.He started to play the accordion with the lessons he took from Edvard Aris and Hagop Pakyüz.Again, he developed his Armenian music repertoire in the choir backstage and in various association environments.
In the following years, he played the accordion at Boğaziçi University Folklore Club and Kardeş Türküler concerts and worked in the organization teams of the concerts. In 2012, he founded the Vomank band with his friends with the aim of adding a new quest to traditional Armenian music. He released two albums with the Vomank band, played synthesizer and designed electronic infrastructures in this band. He took part in different album recording works with Arto Tunçboyacıyan and took part in the recording of Tayis Yıldızcı's Chronicles album. While working as a stage manager and production supervisor at Zorlu Performing Arts, he decided to move abroad and currently continues to work on the production side of performing arts in France. Since 2016, he has been continuing the Armenian music program Jirayr'ın Walkmani (Jirayr'ın Walkmani), which he has been preparing and presenting with Vartan Estukyan at Açık Radio. He has been working with Mihran Tomasyan and Çıplak Ayaklar Dance Studio since day one.
RADIX is supported by The City of Gothenburg Arts and Cultural Affairs Committee and The Region Västra Götaland Cultural Affairs Committee