Thread: Tell me about Diane Tarkan

Just got the latest news about the local events - we are going to get Diane Tarkan here to teach and perform in the summer dance festival. I am curious to know more about her, and to see youtube clips if available. Anyone here studied with her? Any views, opinions, experiences to share?

Originally Posted by heinakuu

Just got the latest news about the local events - we are going to get Diane Tarkan here to teach and perform in the summer dance festival. I am curious to know more about her, and to see youtube clips if available. Anyone here studied with her? Any views, opinions, experiences to share?

Hijacking thread a bit, but Heinakuu, where can I find info on the summer festival?

Diane Tarkan is a very good teacher who nowadays teaches at the Ahlan wa Sahlan in Cairo. She can explain steps and combos very well. I did some workshops with her and they were all good. She is trained by Raqia Hassan and she has a similar style with very interesting steps.
I can recommend it to go to her workshops.
good luck
Amira Ates

Terve Heinakuu!
Hyvää vuoden alkua sinne lämpimään pohjoiseen, tässä sormet kohmeessa, nenä vuoten kirjoitaessa.

Yep, Diana is great. I like her a lot. She is studied with Raqia, but has her own style. She really has interesting combos. She has done some great stuff for me.

She is French and her style is very Modern Egyptian with heavy jazz/ballet influence. Her You Tube of the choreo she taught during her most recent LA trip is here:

[ame=http://youtube.com/watch?v=rrQ6NAEvREU]YouTube - Diana Tarkhan[/ame]

In a recent workshop, Astryd Farah mentioned Diana Tarkan as one of her main teachers. I took that as a pretty good endorsement.

I took a workshop with Diana Tarkhan last fall, and I really enjoyed it. She's a very fun teacher and was great at explaining things. She taught some very useful combos, and also was very helpful with technique. It was so fun to watch her dance; she had a very graceful, yet playful style.

Don't miss the opportunity to study with her. Sharp and clean technique, excellent teacher to explain and good combos/choreographies. I love her work.

I was also very pleased with the workshops I´ve taken with her...and she also taught me steps while out on a club!:)
Definitly recommends her.

I studied with her in Cairo and also highly recommend her (met heard/hear about her through Astryd)! She is great with technique/combos/choreography, whaterver you need! She's also great in private lessons, book one (or more) with her if you can!!

wow, really promising to hear this kind of comments - I can always trust bhuzzers! (...of course, I am going to book me to her classes for sure now...)

Katja, the festival web pages are going to be at
Itämaisen tanssin kesäfestivaali 2008 but looks like it is not yet opened, probably it is going to be very soon. But the dates in Jyväskylä are
5th-8th June, and Diana will be teaching technique and pop balady on thursday and friday for all levels and an entrance focused course and an oriental choreography for advanced during the weekend. The other visiting teacher is Zahra bent Ammar, I know her from Stockholm festival.

Outi, paljon _lämpimiä_ terveisiä sinne Kairoon (lähetänkö sulle kutomani villasukat? ). Meillä täällä ei ole tänä vuonna talvea eikä lunta ollenkaan, aina vaan 5 astetta ja pimeää. Joskus ainoa mikä auttaa masennukseen on täysillä oleva tanssimusiikki, aina ei sekään......c::

Originally Posted by heinakuu

Outi, paljon _lämpimiä_ terveisiä sinne Kairoon (lähetänkö sulle kutomani villasukat? ). Meillä täällä ei ole tänä vuonna talvea eikä lunta ollenkaan, aina vaan 5 astetta ja pimeää. Joskus ainoa mikä auttaa masennukseen on täysillä oleva tanssimusiikki, aina ei sekään......c::

Villasukathan jalassa täällä sisällä ollaan 24h/7. Ikinä ennen en ole tykännyt nukkua sukat jalssa. Nyt on pakko. Mutta mene ihmeessä D:n kursseille. Se on tosi hyvä. Olen ihmetellyt, kun se on meillä päin niin tuntematon nimi. Täällä minäkin häneen tutustuin. Minä itseasiassa sitä Jyväskyläläisille ehdotin, kun kyselivät minulta ihan tuntemattomista tyypeistä.

Now you all have to get Finnish-English dictionaries

Diana is one of the top teachers and choreographers in Cairo now. She has taught some big names from "European dancers to know" thread.

I missed a chance to hold ws with her here in Prague due to locals boycotting big names ... it was a bummer, I much regret this...cr.:

I studied with her privately in Cairo and really enjoyed her as a teacher. She is very giving and personable, but tough on you when you need it. I want to go back for more lessons so badly! I think she's becoming a sought out teacher not only because she's an amazing Oriental dancer, but she is also a good teacher (she's very interested in pedagogy and studies up on it). Plus she is honest - everyone is charged the same fee who comes for lessons (for those you who have gone to Egypt to study, y'all know what I'm talking about and you know who is the worst for that in Cairo and can probably see why more people are searching out teachers like Diana). Her english is amazing too. I had lessons in Cairo with translators, or none at all which can be frustrating. I love how she uses her jazz/ballet background. She was the first teacher I had who taught me how to do turns. I'm so grateful for that, lol!

thank you for recommendations - so far, I have booked all her workshops during the Jyväskylä festival - sounds very promising! I also posted your recommendations to our local discussion board because she hasn't been visiting us earlier.

Good for you !

You seem to be the same sunny character like Diana, you will surely enjoy her classes.

I too can highly recommend Diana! I had private lessons with her while in Cairo a couple of weeks ago and can say that her Oriental styling and technique are superb. I'll echo what Mahabellydance wrote - she is exacting with her lessons which showed me how seriously she takes this artform. She is is super sweet, a total fire ball and an excellent teacher! And I just love her French Algerian accent. When you meet her, have her say "totally hypnotic" and you will just want to pick her up and squeeze the shimmies out of her!

Excellent choice for a workshopt instructor. I would love to bring her to my region one day.