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Scenes From Turkey: Oriental Dance at
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These photos depict the first dancer to appear in the show at Kervansaray on July 13, 2000. This dancer committed one of the same errors that many dancers in the U.S. make: she completely ignored the women in the audience. After her performance, she did the same thing we saw the opening dancers at Orient House and Gar Gazinosu do: she and her photographer went from table to table and posed for pictures with the guests, with the understanding that the finished pictures could be purchased later. |
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But unlike the dancers at the other two places, she went only to the men. Our group had 22 people, 2 of whom were male. Therefore, when she came to our table, she offered to pose for only two pictures: one with each man. What were the rest of us — chopped liver? This dancer clearly didn't understand that it's rude to ignore the women in your audience. |  |
At Kervansaray, as at the clubs we went to our first two evenings, the Oriental dancers used primarily Egyptian music instead of Turkish music. As you can see from these pictures, her costume was very elegant. The club where she danced, Kervansaray, was one of the few that had a live band play for the Oriental dancers. At most of the clubs, live bands were available to play for the folk dance performances but pre-recorded music was used for the Oriental dancers. |
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Second Dancer
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The second dancer at Kervansaray had a beautiful, sparkly costume. Note the way her arms are crossed as she goes into her backbend. This was an arm movement that we saw a number of Oriental dancers use for kneeling backbends throughout our visit to Turkey. |  |
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A shimmering drape in the front extended from the bra down over the abdomen, attaching to the belt at the sides. The skirt for this costume was asymmetric, with a slit on only one side. |
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Third Dancer
This dancer was the third Oriental dance performer to appear in the show at Kervansaray in Istanbul on July 13, 2000. Because she was the final Oriental dancer, I expected her to be the headliner, so I was very disappointed by her poor posture and sullen attitude. This costume was intriguing because of the daring cutouts across the front and one side of the belt. Also note the slits in the skirt in both the front and the back. |
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As the photo to the left illustrates, the cutouts on the belt extended up across the right hip and into the back. In the photo to the right, note her high-heeled platform shoes. Many of the dancers we saw in Turkey in 2000 wore this style. |
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In this photo to the right, note that the dancer has a veil. Like many other dancers that we saw in Turkey, she copied the Egyptian style of carrying a veil when she made her entrance. Note the cutout section of the belt across the top of the thighs. Oh my! As shown in the photo to the left, the cutout in the belt revealed a glimpse of the dancer's right cheek. |
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These photo galleries contain photographs taken by Shira in July, 2000.
Oriental Dance
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