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Turkish Events
ALATURKA! CLASSES
more class hours than any other Turkish Tour
MUSIC and DANCE
Soak in this historical city where the very air vibrates with music! Study with native professionals in Istanbul "the Crossroads of the Orient." Our directors have dedicated their lives to the teaching and preservation of Oriental music and dance and have many years of experience. As dancers and musicians we understand your needs and provide only the finest instructors. There will be many hours of dance instruction during the festival and also daily music classes by appointment. All of our instructors are of Middle Eastern descent and/or have studied in the Middle East. The dance class topics will include Turkish and Arabic Oriental, Turkish and Balkan Romany (Gypsy), Turkish Folkdance and finger cymbals. Music classes will be by appointment and can include kanun, ud, percussion, violin, singing, clarinet, baglama, ney and zurna. A special added feature will be a history lecture on Turkish Romany and Oriental dance history! Below you will find a brief discussion on some of our dance topics.
Egyptian Oriental and Turkish Oriental Dance
The Egyptian Ghawazee dancers were called the "invaders of the heart" (Marre and Charlton) and the Turkish dancers were said to do the dance that could "melt a stone."There are reasons for the similarities and differences between the Egyptian and Turkish styles of Oriental dance. The two styles clearly influenced each other; however, these dances were born from different continents. We are proud to offer seasoned professional teachers in BOTH styles!
Egyptian Oriental
The mother of these dances were the street entertainers called the "Ghawazees", the Romany (Gypsy) dancers of Egypt. These public performers, delighted Egyptians and scandalized many foreign visitors. Egyptian and Turkish cultures merged during the Turkish occupation of Egypt between 1517 and the early 1900s. As the dance became more theatricalized under the Ottoman rule of Egypt, it began disconnecting from the Ghawazee (Romany) roots. It evolved further into its current theaterical state thanks to the influence of the English and Europeans. This highly expressive and beautifuy art form employs intricate hip and torso articuations, shimmies of the shoulders and hips and exrpessive arms and hands.
Turkish Oriental
The parentage of this wonderful dance form boasts of the Roma (Gypsies) of Turkey, the harems of the sultans and the turn of the century theaters of Istanbul. There are intricate and asymmetrical rhythms, improvisational aspects and finger cymbal playing. The Turkish style is less refined than its Egyptian sister. It is less elegant but not less articulate. What it lacks in composure and predictability, it makes up for with spontaneity and passion. Neither style is inferior to the other. Both styles are expressive, playful and sometimes introspective. The Turkish dance is aggressive, passionate and sometimes arrogant or indifferent. The Egyptian style is more refined and elegant (i.e. a typical Egyptian step is a "step, step, glide" and a typical Turkish step is a "walking strut"). Both styles of dance employ shoulder and hip shimmies, abdominal undulations, backbends, shoulder rolls, full body undulations and isolations of the head, ribs and hips (slides, lifts, drops, half circles, full circles and "figure eights"). Turkish dancers still do veil work and this is in contrast to the brief or nonexistent veil work of contemporary Egyptian dancers. Up until a few years ago, all Turkish dancers played finger cymbals. Many Egyptian dancers do not or cannot play them but rather have their musicians play them. Floorwork is quite popular in Turkey and it can be very acrobatic but it is illegal in Egypt.
Romany (Gypsy) Dance
The Roma came to both Egypt and Turkey as well as Europe. The Egyptian form of Romany dance is the dance style of the Ghawazees. This art form is repidly disappearing in Egypt due to maltreatment of the dancing women by the Fundamentalist movement there. The Turkish form can often still be seen. This dance form employs hip , shoulder, abdominal and pelvic isolations, shimmies of the hips, shoulders and stomache and a wide array of fascinating gestures unique to Turkish Romany dance.
Folkdance
The Middle East has a rich tradition of folk dance. Every district has its own local tunes, songs and dances. There is some special song or dance for every event of rural life. A birth or a wedding, the death of a loved one, sowing the field and harvesting the crops or leading the flocks to water. Some of the songs and dances have to do with a particular craft or work, some have fertility or good luck as a theme, while others express the timeless feelings of a man, joy and sadness, the longing of an exile for home and the homeland, love and affection for the beloved.
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