Breaking cubicle monotony with African dance

African dance has been one of the unexpected keys to the success of companies such as Efes Pilsen, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, HP, Bank Pozitif, Sofra, Dupont, Peppers & Rogers, Yapı Kredi, 3M and BIMSA.

Managers at these firms decided to use the innovative approach to break the daily corporate routine of manning the phones and working on computers, and get co-workers out from behind their desks. Inci Turan, who worked with these companies to organize special workshops for their employees, calls her contribution a “fusion between African dance and corporate training.”

The company Turan founded, Dance Therapy Training and Consultancy, seeks to bring corporate employees together in an unusual and exciting atmosphere, the art of African dance. Based on the ancient rhythms and movement styles of Africa, workers dance to live percussion instruments, traditionally played by drumming masters. Members of Turan’s team include American drummer and fitness trainer Sean Jocelyn and British master drummer Tom Camidge.

“The goal of these motivational workshops is to get people out of their comfort zone and try to make them love challenges,” Turan said. “People oftentimes have a ‘can’t do’ attitude, and we try to teach them a can-do one. The goal is to get people to do things themselves, actively.”

Her workshops aim to build motivation, self-confidence and teamwork through a collaborative effort and build on existing relationships between employees by placing them together in an unfamiliar yet constructive environment.

Once participants are seated, the awesome sound of an attack on animal hide begins to reverberate throughout the room, hushing voices and drawing attention. A second drum joins the first, their rhythms locking together and heightening the pulse of the crowd. Then comes the dancer, elegantly graceful and draped in wild colors, accentuated by moving arms and loping steps.

The performance finishes, and the applause begins. A short speech explains the contents of the workshop, and the employees are split into two groups: drummers and dancers. Each learns a complementary rhythm or dance, taught by the teachers of their group. By the end of the two-hour session, the groups come together to perform as an ensemble, with the drummers beating out rhythms for the dancers.

After graduating from college at SUNY Stony Brook in New York with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Turan returned to Istanbul, where she worked for Akbank’s general-management division, Oracle and Xerox. During another stint in New York, she worked in the legal field for Manhattan’s corporate world. It was there that she discovered African dance, through the Harlem Black Theater, the YMCA, Crunch Gym and the Djoniba Dance and Drum Center.

Keenly interested, Turan worked to perfect her newfound drumming and dance skills. After a total of 11 years in New York, she once again returned to Istanbul to work at a management and consultancy firm. After participating in a variety of so-called motivational workshops, she said, she “realized that traditional training programs were mundane and were not as effective as people themselves standing up and engaging in activities.”

In response, she developed her own motivational program, using African dance as the medium. “Dance is rooted in us, it is one of our ways of communication,” says Turan. “No one can say that they don’t have a sense of rhythm. And percussion is one of the easiest instruments.”

For more information on Turan’s workshops, go to afrikadansi.com.