ALATURKA! CLASSES

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.

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 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.

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.

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.