Merih Bahar Çimenciler

Merih Bahar Çimenciler is a Turkish principal ballerina, choreographer and ballet director whose professional career spans more than five decades. Early in her work, she received invitations to perform with the Royal Ballet in London, establishing her place in the international ballet world while maintaining her focus on Turkey's state ballet institutions.

Çimenciler is known for creating ballet works that weave Turkish history, musical traditions and classical instruments into the language of Western classical technique. This fusion appears across her major productions: *Harem*, which she choreographed and directed for the Ankara State Opera and Ballet, ran for nearly 500 performances over eighteen years and was described in 2016 as the company's longest-running ballet. More recently, she adapted Reşat Nuri Güntekin's novel *Çalıkuşu* into a ballet using Turkish classical-music idioms, a production documented at Samsun State Opera and Ballet in 2023.

Beyond the stage, Çimenciler has worked as a teacher and international competition juror, shaping the next generation of dancers while maintaining her own artistic vision. Her sustained effort to build nationally rooted repertory for Turkey's state ballet institutions demonstrates a decades-long commitment to establishing Turkish ballet as a distinctive voice within the international dance world.