Deniz Köktan

He was born in 1975 in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany. He lived in Germany until he was 8 years old. After returning permanently to Turkey with his family, Deniz KÖKTAN completed his elementary, middle, and high school education in Hatay/Antakya. He continued his journey in folk dance, which began in elementary school, by enrolling in the Turkish Folk Dance Department at the Gaziantep University State Conservatory of Turkish Music in 1996. After graduating in 2001, he immediately began working as an instructor at the Sakarya University State Conservatory that same year.

In 2007, she began her master’s degree program in the Department of Folklore and Musicology at the Institute of Social Sciences at Sakarya University. After completing her master’s program in 2010 with a thesis titled “The Phenomenon of Competition in Folk Dances,” she began her education in 2012 in the Fine Arts Education Program under the Department of Fine Arts Education at the Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara University. In 2019, she completed her doctoral program with a dissertation titled “The Use of Creative Drama in the Teaching Process of Turkish Folk Dances.”

Between 2001 and 2008, she served as the Assistant Chair of the Turkish Folk Dances Department at the Sakarya University State Conservatory, and from 2008 to 2013, she served as the Chair of the Turkish Folk Dances Department, taking on responsibilities in numerous activities. She served as a choreographer and dance instructor in projects such as “From Imitation to Play, From Play to Art,” “Turkish Sun Dance Theater,” “From Body to Soul, From Soul to Eternity,” and “From Homeland to Ancestral Homeland” Turkish dance projects. Most recently, she contributed to the field with the dance performance “KARA DÜĞÜN,” for which she served as the general artistic director and authored the concept and script, depicting the drama of child brides.

She has also received training in prenatal Pilates and Mat Work Pilates, further developing her expertise in these areas. Since 2011, she has provided services to various institutions and organizations in numerous fields related to Pilates education.

Since 2015, in collaboration with the Turkish Midwives Association, she has served as an instructor in Childbirth Preparation Training Programs and has participated in numerous training sessions focused on “Empowering Midwives” under the Ministry of Health, continuing to contribute to these programs with new methodologies.

She currently serves as a faculty member in the Turkish Folk Dances Department at the Sakarya University State Conservatory. She is married and the mother of one child.