Fire of Anatolia

This was an incredible show. All of the dancers were so talented, and it was amazing to see Turkish dancing. It captivated me for the full two hours and was definitely the highlight of my vacation in an incredible amphitheatre where they really showed the acoustics of the stadium.

Definitely recommend getting there early as it fills up really quickly. Don't recommend for people in wheelchairs as there's uneven pathing and steep uneven stairs to get good seats.

We went to this show in our last night in Antalya. Save the best for last!!! It was very nice to see the history of Turkey through different eras. It is good for family. I liked the well organized way for the tour buses in the parking area and the well arranged way to get out at the end.
Anyhow, as a great show its facilities needs to be improved. Very bad steps and risky, I felt down two times. Wooden seating very small and not comfortable. Local Kiosks selling coffee, tea and snacks not honest at all. Different prices and the price depends on the face!! If you Turkish will get less price!! They are muslims but unfortunately some of them not behaving as muslims. Toilets also made as cabins. All in all, the whole area needs to be improved because the show is really deserve that. My last advice is to buy the tickets abd take private transfer or taxi. Tour buses will take maybe more than two hours to reach the show from Antalya while the way won't take an hour. Tour buses need to pick-up so many people from different hotels on the way.

For over 10 years now I have wanted to see this performance "Fire of Anatolia" but just never had the time. Last year in October 2011, I finally got the chance to watch this fantastic show. The performance incorporates a mix of Turkish culture and historical folk dance from various areas in Turkey along with modern dance and ballet. There are about 120 professional dancers performing together with elaborate costumes. The group's dances are base on 4000 years dancing culture of Anatolian civilization. The show is colorful, rhythmic, elegant and stylish.

The shows are held in the Gloria Aspendos Arena in Belek located close to the ancient city of Aspendos. The arena is located on the Antalya-Alanya highway.

If you are visiting Antalya, Side, Lara, Belek or resorts near to this area and have the chance to catch a show I highly recommend it. Also this dance company does perform in different locations around the world so if it comes to your area book tickets and dont miss out on this great show..

I think the title is misleading in two ways.
First would the old name „dance if the Sultans“ be a lot more accurate since it is only a dance show and there is not really fire involved, but if you like folklore it might just be right for you.
Second and most disappointing is that the show used to be in the old and really famous Aspendos theater. This is not the case anymore. There is now a plastic arena with a lot of fake stuff, you will sit on uncomfortable plastic seats (bring a pillow) and it feels like one of these fake tourist attractions they have here.

It actually should tell something about the history here but since there are no explanations, no text what so ever, it is hard to follow, I would say impossible if you haven’t studied Anatolian history.

So just a dance show

Having seen Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance in the UK I’m afraid my expectations may have been too high.
The show is of a standard you would see at a very good 5*hotel. Which is surprising considering it tours all over the world.
It began about 9.30pm and finished at 11pm with about 25-30min interval. There are toilets and a stall by each entrance/exit selling snacks and drinks. As other reviewers have stated the seats are incredibly uncomfortable and unfortunately the show is not good enough to detract from this.
If you are near the arena then it would be an interesting evening and worth it. However, we travelled from Side which I believe is too far to travel to see a show of this standard.

We stayed at the cornelia diamond hotel in belek. After a few days in the sun and watching the onsite entertainment we decided to go see a professional show. We booked through thomas cook (its also available through Thomson) and it cost £45pp. To be brutally honest this show is an out and out tourist trap. The venue is extremely poor and built as a fake amphitheatre, it looks exactly what it is! Poor seating with plastic seats, the show is advertised as 2 hours long and started at 9pm. Ill break down the times for you here:
Arrived at 8:45, grabbed a quick drink.
Sat down for 8:55
Everyone sat down at 9:00
Venue started letting more people in to fill up the seating.
9:30 show finally starts (people still finding a seat)
30min show
10:00pm announced 20minute break
Grab a drink / bit of food (not too expensive)
10:15pm sit back down for start of show
10:20pm still no start
10:30pm show starts back up
11:00pm show finished

Not sure about everyone else but dont see how they managed to stretch out a 1 hour show over 2 hours or even why.

Im not taking away from the dancers but for the price I expect a excellent (near perfect show). I believe the timing was off and quite honestly the show didnt make sense.

I think the tour operaters have alot to answer for! They shouldnt be supporting these types of tourist traps.

Make believe stone theatre with masses of plastic seats
It’s a strange show with no commentary at all so a bit confusing on what’s happening
The stage and set is massive so people look small but give them their due they dance their socks off to Turkish music and traditional Turkish dances
Memories of riverdance come back to mind as it’s a lot of Irish style dancing
If you ho in October onwards it’s very cold as it starts at 9.15pm and finishes at 11pm even though they only dance for 1 1/2 hours in total
Give it a go and hopefully you will enjoy it

We attended the show on recommendation but unfortunately I do feel it has issues which are a shame as the quality of the dancing is absolutely superb. Firstly the show takes place in a theatre kitted out with uncomfortable plastic seats where everyone is crammed in with no leg room and very claustrophobic. It didn't help that they had everyone in their seats with lights off awaiting start of show for over 20 mins. My bum was already going to sleep when the opening sequence started!!! I could see it was not my husband's cup of tea within minutes of the start I sympathise with parents of small children who tired very quickly and found it hard to stay in their seats. Basically the standard of the dancing is excellent but there is no story to the show and it was hard to follow. I feel they could massively improve it by having some kind of dialogue or main actors acting out basic scenes with the dancing then coming into play in each scene rather like a West End Musical. Each song/dance starts within seconds of the last and it becomes repetitive. I was relieved when it was the interval and I could stretch my legs. Drinks and food are available outside the venue at reasonable prices and there are adequate toilet facilities. Again the second half was seriously delayed in starting again but really lets the show down. The skill of the second half is amazing but for some reason there is no "finale" dance. Some of the dances in the earlier part of the second half should have been the final dance and were not. There was an ending of a very boring drum sequence and then the dancers started to bow and clap. At this point sadly a large percentage of the audience stood up and left which was very rude. I can only assume they had had enough and were desperate to stretch their cramped legs. It then appeared there was more dancing to come but this was difficult to watch due to the mass evacuation of the theatre so I felt this was spoilt. There is definitely something lacking in the choreography of the show. Make one of your more spectacular dance sequences is used for the finale (there are plenty to choose from), and have dialogue/instruction that this is the end of the show (no-one knows what is going on!) - move the drum sequence to the first half its boring!

Overall felt frustrated that this show could be produced much more effectively captivating the audiences attention better. No story or dialogue and just leading straight into the next dance with little variation becomes repetitive. Maybe this show will evolve and become the great experience it has the potential to achieve.

i am in awe from this performance. such a variety of dances. i absolutely loved it!!!this performance represents all of the history of Turkey.

A very expensive show with no content and consistent syncopation at all times gets very boring, It was very river dance in style and had no variation 30 people doing the same thing at all times ..yAWN.