Scenes From Turkey: Oriental Dance, Part 1 - Page 2

This was the third dancer to appear in the show at Orient House in Istanbul on July 11, 2000. This style of candelabrum is definitely not a Turkish custom. It is actually an Egyptian innovation dating from around 1910-1920. At that time, in a wedding performance Shafiyya el Koptiyya was the first to balance such a 3-tiered candelabrum, and it quickly became a popular part of Egyptian wedding tradition. The performer in this picture used Egyptian music for her performance.

Would you like to get a closer look at her costume? Click here to see several additional pictures of her.

Three of the places we went all followed roughly the same formula for their shows:

1. A singer introduces the show and asks the people at various tables where they are from. He then sings a song that is likely to be familiar to the people from each country.
2. An ensemble of folk dancers come out and do opening choreography.
3. A "warm-up" Oriental dancer performs.
4. The folk dancers return for further dancing.
5. A second Oriental dancer performs -- probably someone more prestigious than the first one.
6. Additional folk dancing.
7. The lead Oriental dancer performs.
8. Possibly more folk dancing.
9. The singer returns. Again, instead of singing Turkish music he concentrates on a medley of songs representing the nationalities of the audience members.

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

Would you like to get a closer look at her costume? Click here to see several additional pictures of her.

For More Scenes From Turkey

Would you like to see more scenes from Turkey? If so, don't miss these other pages that are also part of the Scenes From Turkey series of articles here on Suite101: