PHOTO CREDIT: Above photo by John Rickman Photography, San Jose, California.

This was the first dancer to appear in the show at Gar Gazinosu in Istanbul on July 12, 2000.

Her colorful skirt formed many interesting effects as it moved.

After finishing her performance, this dancer and a photographer went around to each guest in the restaurant and she posed for a picture with them. Afterward, the pictures were posted out front so patrons could decide whether to purchase copies or not. Out of the four dancers who were featured in this show, this was the only one to pose for pictures.

Many Turkish dancers, including this one, incorporate kneeling backbends into their performances.

These pictures show the second Oriental dance act to appear in the show at Gar Gazinosu in Istanbul on July 12, 2000. Tanya and Helen, a duo of Russian dancers, performed an Egyptian-style cane choreography in a lively duet. Their costumes came across as elegant, but with the cutouts they were also just a bit daring.

These pictures show how this costume looks from several angles. Note that the skirt is asymmetric. As seen on the brunette, the right side has a slit about halfway up the thigh, with a cutout above that. On the left side, as seen on the blonde, the cutout lies high on the side of the hip. Sequinned bands across the opening create a spider web effect.

Their use of canes as a prop shows the influence that Egyptian dance has had on Turkey. In Egypt, dancing with a cane has its roots in a folkloric tradition. Today, Turkish dancers appear to be heavily influenced by Egypt in their choice of music and props.

At one point in the show, these dancers balanced their canes on their breasts. Oh my! My camera wasn't fast enough to capture that act of dexterity, but I did get this shot of them balancing the canes on their heads.

Later in the show, these dancers recruited a couple of men from the audience to get on stage and dance with them.

Based on the shows we saw and the costume shopping we did at two different vendors, it seems like the primary theme in the higher-class Turkish-style costumes today is cutouts, particularly in the skirt and belt.

Nergiz emulated the Egyptian-style entrance of carrying a veil around the stage, then dropping it after a few flourishes. Although I saw many dancers in Turkey copying this idea, Nergiz did so more artistically than most. As shown in the photo to the right, she held the veil in a variety of attractive poses before discarding it.

Many dancers in Turkey use the approach of having the skirt sewn directly to the belt when the belt has cutouts in its design. By attaching the skirt directly to the belt, the dancer ensures that the skirt won't creep into a position that hides what the cutouts are meant to reveal.

The photo to the left shows how Nergiz employed cutouts on one side of her belt. Rather than simply exposing bare skin directly underneath, the belt exposed sheer red chiffon.

This view in the photo to the right of her other side shows an area where the belt and the chiffon were cut away to reveal a diamond-shaped patch of skin.

Oriental Dance

• Oriental Dance at Orient House. Photos of performances at the Orient House restaurant in Istanbul.
• Oriental Dance at Kervansaray. Photos of performances at the Kervansaray restaurant in Istanbul.
• Oriental Dance in Kusadasi. Photos of performances at the Kervansaray Hotel in the city of Kusadasi.
• Other Oriental Dance. Photos of performances at Yasar Baba, Colossae, and back in Istanbul.

Other Images

• Whirling Dervishes. At a kervanseray near Konya.
• Göbek Dansı: The "Real" Turkish "Belly Dance". At the Gar Gazinosu restaurant in Istanbul.