Michael calls it Movement Research in Public Spaces. A bunch of people meet somewhere in the city, jump around, play imaginative scenes, roll around the floor and do other odd stuff that makes passers-by stop, kids cheer, groups of Japanese tourists clap. Today’s improvisation meeting was the highlight of a series of get-togethers like that during this week. Ten moving improvisationists showed up, I was amongst them, and walked — partly with their eyes closed — to a small square next to the Hagia Sofia mosque/church and let everything out for about an hour. I met wonderful people and connected with them instantly. Michael contacted me through my friend Dante before he came to Istanbul a week ago and since then I am discovering the contemporary dance scene with him. There are more little studios hidden in the houses around the Galata tower than you would think. Expressing one’s emotions and impulses through dance is such a pure and self-healing activity.