THE FUNCTION OF CULTURAL VENUES IN TRADITIONAL FOLK DANCE PERFORMANCES

Considering the necessity of cultural continuity; the function of cultural venues is needed to be examined as the places where culture is produced and transmitted in the field of folk dances as well as in other cultural areas. At this point, with concern of cultural values being vanishing as the places where culture is kept alive and transferred to the future generations, comes the concern of culture vanishing itself. Two seperate contracts being signed by Unesco in 2003 and 2005 regarding the protection of cultural heritage also validates that opinion as Unesco mainly aiming the protection of cultural diversity and heritage, considering the function of cultural space as one of the most important elements of this activity. Venues of social life in traditional cultural structure of folk dances are places where traditional celebrations and rituals are created and kept alive such as birth, circumcision, marriage, vintage and spring festival tradition. These places are subject to a rapid change and transformation by the effects of todays both global and local conditions and affects. Changing life conditions combined with differences in global and local culture has generated new dimensions in culture and place interaction, and tradition still continues in these transformed venues. Today, the importance of cultural venues in the transfer of folk culture to new generations is more significant than ever considering the negative effects of urbanisation, technological developement and globalisation on cultural continuity and diversity. In this paper; the function and transformation of cultural venues is examined and discussed in terms of culture, place and human.