About me

Barış Akarsu was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. He grew up in a family where folk dancing was an important factor in their lives. In 1998, he joined an amateur dance company called “Kartal Folk Dance Association” in Istanbul. After a short time he joined the company as a dancer, they won 1st place in the National folk dance competition in Turkey.

With the same group, “Kartal Folk Dance Association”, he toured throughout Europe in 1998 and 1999. They won the 3rd place in an international folk dance competition in Dijon, France in 1999.

In the end of 1999, he auditioned for the professional dance company called “The Sultans Of The Dance” in Istanbul, Turkey. There were over 1,500 dancers at the audition and Barış was in the top 50 dancers selected as winners. He became a part of the company as a dancer, though later he became the soloist, teacher and choreographer.

Barış professionally studied all regions of folk dances from Turkey as well as; Balkan folk dances, international folk dances, stretching, Ballet, Modern, Tap, Jazz as well. Beside his dancing career, he also studied and performed percussion, stage performances, costumes making, stage props, and music making and recording in general.

Barış performed in front of thousands of audiences in very prestigious venues while he was part of the “Sultans Of The Dance” company as a soloist, which started its journey in 2001. With the same company, he traveled to number of countries, such as; Israel, Germany, China, the Netherlands, USA, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Algeria, New Zealand, Malaysia, Italy, Sweden, Mexico, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakistan, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romain, Poland, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Austria, Czech republic, Greece and Cyprus.

In 2003, the Sultans of the dance group changed its name to “Anadolu Ateşi - Fire of Anatolia”. Barış continued his career in Anadolu Ateşi until 2015. Between 2003 and 2015, he performed in over 80 countries and his duties were; lead dancer, soloist, rehearsal director, assistant choreographer, stage manager, tour manager, Antalya operations coordinator and the member of artistic board. Barış also was part of the company’s children division, which is called “Kivilcim Kids Dance Group” as a teacher and choreographer.

Barış was a dancer and teacher in the company’s projects like; “Dawool”, “The Gates of the East”, “Troy”, “The Wings of the North", “Istanbul Dreams”, and “The Journey to the History in Aspendos“ projects created by the Anadolu Ateşi.

Barış was involved in events like; 2004 Eurovision song contest, 2005 Universiade Summer games closing ceremony, 2011 Winter Olympics in Erzurum -Opening and closing ceremonies-, 2011 European youth olympic games in Trabzon, Turkey -opening and closing ceremonies as a performer teacher, and assistant choreographer.

Some of the prestigious venues Barış performed includes; Madison Square Garden, Chinese parliament building, Kremlin palace, Chicago theater, Cairo opera house, Sony center in Toronto, Trocadero square in France. He also performed at the Bodrum antique  theater after 2300 years of no performances.

As a dancer, teacher, soloist and assistant choreographer, he performed over 5000 shows in 80 countries, in front of a 40 million audience with the Fire of Anatolia. The same group has won over 100 awards throughout the years.

In 2006, Barış decided to study economics and get his degree. In 2010, he completed his degree as an economist from the Anadolu University in Eskisehir, Turkey.

Between 2015 and 2017, he performed in International dance festivals with different dance companies. He also served as a judge in dance competitions. He was an advisor to several organizations for their events.

In 2017, he started working for “Shaman Dance Theatre”. The company produced two major productions; “Anatolian Legend of Love” and “ 7EDI ”. Barış was involved in the productions as a dancer, teacher, stage manager, sound and lighting operator, stage props, and as an assistant choreographer in Shaman Dance Theatre.

In 2018 and 19, Barış taught contemporary and hip-hop dancing to young children at the Antalya Rhythmic Gymnastics dance school.

As of January 2017, he is a certified dance teacher and he is also a member of International Dance Council “CID”.