Museology of Folk Dances in ICH Museums: Problems, Examples, Suggestions.

"Dance", which is based on religious beliefs and practices, where people convey their feelings and thoughts through their bodies, and which has gained new functions over time in the history of humanity, is a cultural universal, one of the common fields of study of many sciences. Folk dance, which is one of the main research subjects of social sciences such as folklore, anthropology and ethnology with its ritualistic structure and rich historical background, is one of our traditional performing arts and a cultural heritage element that must be safeguarded in order to keep it alive and transfer it to future generations. It is seen that "traditional folk dances", which are discussed under the title of "performing arts", take place in an important part of the national and international studies on the safeguarding of ICH. The process of making intangible or living cultural heritage visible is essentially a musealization process. With the "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage" accepted by UNESCO in 2003, one of the spaces used during the "safeguarding" studies has been "museums". In 2007, after the adoption of the Convention, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) added the concept of "intangible cultural heritage" to the definition of museum, aiming to safeguard the tangible and intangible cultural heritage together and in its context. These developments have also led to the formation of ICH museology with a new and contemporary understanding of museums. ICH museums come to the fore with approaches such as raising awareness in the society, keeping them alive, enlivening, transferring and ensuring the participation of the community. On the other hand, how the intangible cultural heritage in museums can be realized with such museum practices and how successful they can be are still discussed by the experts of the subject. When the current museum practices are examined, it is seen that one of the intangible cultural heritage areas that are difficult to museum is the "performing arts" area and the elements belonging to this area. In Türkiye, it is observed that museum practices are mostly limited to traditional folk theater genres (Karagöz, puppet, meddah, orta oyunu, village theatrical plays), and practices/activities about traditional folk dances and music are inadequate – or even absent. It can be said that some of the problems and discussions in the historical process as well as the difficulties in exhibiting our traditional folk dances in the museum are the reason for this. While folk dances, folk music and related shows were sacrificed to the "folklorism" fashion in the past, problematic areas such as "authenticity", "detachment from context", "staging" and "touristification" in folk dances are among the issues that need to be taken into consideration today as in the past. On the other hand, there are important studies and examples on the subject carried out internationally, both in the ICH Convention processes and in the context of the safeguarding of cultural heritage. When these examples are examined, especially those included in the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices; there is "Fandango s Living Museum-Brazil". In addition, "Interactive Dance Dissemination in Museums Project" and "Dance as ICH: New models of organizing participatory dance events (Dance-ICH) Project" appear to be important practices/events and projects focusing on traditional folk dances. These samples are successful examples that can inspire us to museumize our traditional folk dances. When we look at the practices and activities carried out in the field of performing arts in the intangible cultural heritage museums, which are increasing in number in Turkey, it is seen that although traditional folk dances have a very rich accumulation, it is not sufficiently reflected in museum practices. Moreoever, it is also noteworthy that although we have a large number of traditional folk dance elements registered in the ICH Türkiye National Inventory List, we do not have an element related to our traditional folk dances in the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity. Museum practices that can contribute to the processes of safeguarding, maintaining and transmitting traditional folk dances to future generations as a heritage element, it is seen that there is a need for arrangements where the dances are accompanied by live performances and the visitors are included in the process and they can experience them by living. Based on the studies carried out abroad that brought traditional folk dances to museums, in the transfer of traditional folk dances to the museum environment and in addition to raising awareness about how to museum, the suggestions to be developed will be of great importance.