Ahmet Luleci: Acclaimed Dance Educator and Choreographer

A native of Turkey, Ahmet Luleci is currently the artistic director of the Boston-based Collage Dance Ensemble, which aligns with his goal of making folk dance and music, particularly from Anatolian culture, accessible to a wider audience. Since arriving in North America in 1985, he has led numerous folk dance workshops and camps across the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Holland, England, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain, and Australia. Throughout his career, he has set countless suites of dance choreography for the stage in collaboration with various dance organizations worldwide.

Ahmet has received accolades such as Crash Art's "Dance Straight Up!" in 2004 and 2006, "Ten's the Limit 2005," and Boston Dance Umbrella's "Boston Moves 2001" awards for choreography. His piece for the Budlet Dance Company won the Gold Medal at the 2004 Hong Kong Open Dance Competition. In 2002, he was honored with an Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts & Humanities by the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). His company, Collage, earned fifth place at the World Dance Competition in 2003.

Some notable performing ensembles he has collaborated with include AMAN of Los Angeles, BYU Dancers of Provo, BUDLET of Hong Kong, LES SORTILEGES of Montreal, and VINOK of Edmonton. In Turkey, he choreographed for HOYTUR and TURHOY of Ankara, and ANADOLU UNIVERSITESI of Eskisehir. In 1991, Ahmet joined the artistic staff of AMAN as a resident choreographer.

From 1974 to 1985, he taught in several esteemed ensembles in Ankara, Istanbul, Eskisehir, and Bursa. Prior to his move to North America, Ahmet served as the Director of Dances for HOY-TUR, which is regarded as Turkey's leading folk dance association. Since the age of eight, he has been dancing with various school ensembles and private associations, many of which have won prestigious awards at city-wide and International competitions. Between 1973 and 2003, he participated in international dance festivals and competitions across Western and Eastern Europe. Additionally, he and his ensembles appeared in over 60 programs broadcast nationally in countries such as Turkey, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, USA, Canada, Brazil, and Germany.

Ahmet's college major was music, specializing in voice. His passion for folk songs inspired his academic pursuit of music, while his intrigue with dance drove him to conduct scholarly research into the historical, social, and cultural backgrounds of costumes and spoon dances from Turkey's Mediterranean coast. His extensive research culminated in a 400-page study, for which he received First Place in the 1985 national competition in research on the folk dances of Turkey, awarded by the Turkish Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Education. In 1997, he completed a second degree in Fine Arts.

Ahmet is also an adjudicator at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod held annually in Wales.

Currently, he serves as the Artistic Director of Collage Dance Ensemble and previously acted as the International Art Director of the "Outside the Box" International Arts Festival in 2015, which took place in Boston.